It’s hard to find good resources that are accurate and relevant for regenerational graziers like myself regarding hoof rot or hoof scald. I thought I’d share my notes to see if it helps someone else.
For starters, I do not have answers. I did not perform any scientific experiments. I just tried some things and it seemed to work OK.
Last year, around March 2024, I bought a bunch of sheep from my neighbor who had sold all his good sheep to a broker. The broker left the others behind. I bought them at a discounted rate knowing that they were not good sheep. My purpose in buying them was to get some more experience managing sheep, particularly figuring out how to rotate larger numbers of them. Up until then, I had about 4 sheep, St. Croix, for about 2 years, and I had very limited success if any with them.
After buying the sheep from my neighbor, I bought about 40 or 50 sheep from a grazier in Lampasas, TX. Those sheep were fantastic, and I have no complaints. In fact, I’m going to see if I can get some breeding rams from him, or possibly buy more of them.
The sheep that I bought from my neighbor had a lot of problems. Their hooves were overgrown and they had hoof rot and hoof scald issues. I tried to trim some of their hooves when I bought them but otherwise I didn’t do much with them, largely because I couldn’t really pen them up easily. I did have a pen, it was just in a corner of the field and it was a chore to move them all in and out.
However, I did pen them up especially when I rotated past the pen. In the pen, I would tag and document their condition, look at their hooves and trim them up if needed.
I discovered that 10% copper sulfate solution seemed to work really well. When I found a sheep with hoof rot or scald, I could spray them with that, and it seemed to almost immediately get rid of it. I had no success with zinc sulfate, however.
I got lazy and made a lower concentration of copper sulfate without positive results. I figured out I had to keep the concentration high.
I know some people hear the word “copper” in relation to sheep and panic. Yes, copper toxicity is a real threat to sheep and if you poison your sheep with them there’s not much you can do except watch them die. However, the dosage of copper from the copper sulfate solution on their hooves is ridiculously small. They aren’t licking their feet and they aren’t dancing in the water. Even if they did, I doubt there is enough copper there to cause problems. See, sheep need SOME copper, just a lot less than cattle and goats. The problem with copper toxicity arises when sheep are given too much copper, which often happens if the only minerals (salt) they have access to are minerals with lots of copper for goats and cattle.
Hoof problems started disappearing as summer came on. The hotter, drier weather just seemed better for the sheep and their hooves. We had a drought in late summer which I also think was good for the hooves. I noticed that the cases of hoof rot and scald were decreasing as time went along. By winter of 2024-2025, I didn’t see any cases at all. Every time I had a lame sheep, it was always due to overgrown hooves, and there weren’t many of those cases any more either.
I surmise that the reason why the sheep’s hooves would overgrow was because they were sneaking dog food while I wasn’t looking. The rams that I kept with the puppies had more issues than the ewes who were kept separated.
My Recommendations
My recommendations if your flock is suffering from hoof rot or hoof scald are currently the following:
- Do not leave the sheep on a spot of pasture for more than 3 days. If possible, don’t leave them on a spot of ground for more than 1 day. Don’t return to a spot of ground for at least 4 weeks.
- Have a plan to regularly pen up your sheep and inspect their hooves. Identify the ones with lameness issues and pay closer attention to them. (You don’t want them in the pen more often than once every 4 weeks — see point #1 above!)
- Keep a bottle of 10% copper sulfate, trimming shears, and even wrap and some gauze readily accessible. Carry your shepherd’s hook so you can catch lame sheep. If you can catch them, they are probably pretty lame. (Don’t chase sheep!) Inspect their hooves, give them a little trim, and spray them if you think you might have hoof rot or scald. Wrap up the worst cases. The wrap will fall off in a few days.
- Make sure the sheep are not eating high-protein feed like dog food. This encourages the hooves to grow excessively. In fact, avoid feeding the sheep unless absolutely necessary. Try to keep them grazing as much as possible, and supplement with good hay, using feed as a last resort when their protein intake is very low.
I think if you follow the above protocol, you should see good results in as little as 6 months. Just keep at it, record who is lame, and look at them the next time you pen them up.
Identifying Hoof Rot
Hoof rot is an infection of the hoof material. It is easily identified by the following symptoms. As with all diseases, some of the symptoms may be missing especially in mild cases.
- Lameness. You know sheep are beginning to get lame when their head bobs while they walk. If they eat on their knees this is another indicator. Obviously, if they refuse to put weight on a foot this is another indicator.
- Rough foot. The sole of the hoof (the bottom part) should be smooth. If you need to, clean it off with a brush to get a good look. If it is soft and full of holes, it’s probably hoof rot.
- Bad smell. Hoof rot has a bad smell. Smell the hooves to see if they have it.
- Maggots. In the worst cases, you might see maggots in their hooves. This means the hoof rot has progressed to a severe state.
Treatment:
- Clean, dry pasture. Don’t leave them on a spot of ground more than 3 days. Don’t come back for 4 weeks.
- If you don’t have clean, dry pasture, consider keeping them on concrete. However, you have to clean and feed often. This is not a long-term solution, only temporary for the worst cases.
- 10% copper sulfate solution sprayed on the hoof for any case.
- Wrap with gauze and foot wrap in severe cases.
Identifying Hoof Scald
Hoof scald affects the skin between the toes. Otherwise it is very similar to hoof rot. Although hoof scald isn’t as readily apparent, the sheep do present with lameness in even mild cases. Hoof scald seems to affect younger sheep more than older ones.
- Lameness. Hoof scald seems to be more painful for the sheep, so you might suspect hoof scald even if you can’t see it directly.
- Irritation, dampness and even bleeding between the toes. Check the skin and see if it looks normal (smooth, dry, sometimes dirty) or affected by hoof scald (damp, white, rough, cracked, bleeding).
- Bad smell. Similar to hoof rot.
- Maggots. In severe cases, maggots will affect the flesh.
Treatment is the same as hoof rot. You may consider putting gauze between the toes in the worst cases (maggots, bleeding.)
Identifying Overgrown Hooves
It’s very simple to identify overgrown hooves: The hooves are overgrown.
You can identify it with lameness, similar to hoof rot and scald. However, when you inspect the hoof, you’ll note that it is overgrown.
Overgrown hooves can lead to cracked hooves, which is painful for the sheep.
Treatment is trimming the hoof material. It takes practice to do this right. There are plenty of videos showing how the hoof is supposed to look if you don’t know, as well as how to trim the hoof back.
You might want to keep some bloodstop powder in case you go too far. Just sprinkle a little on the wound. You may want to wrap it with gauze and wrap as well.
If you overtrim the hoof, it shouldn’t be a big deal. The sheep will be lame for a few more days, and you might see some odd regrowth when you next inspect it. IE, the hoof walls will grow out.
Note that you might not notice hoof rot when you’re trimming long hooves. As you start to “dig in” though, it may become apparent you have hoof rot with the smell or the irregularly shaped hoof sole. If in doubt, just spray it with copper sulfate solution and move on to the next sheep.
What causes hoof rot / scald?
Some people say that bacteria causes hoof rot and scald, but I think that’s only one of many causes that converge. For instance, you may have bacteria present, but if the sheep is otherwise healthy, they won’t get infected.
I think the following causes all work together to create hoof rot and scald:
- Poor nutrition. If the sheep are being fed or not eating good forage, they are probably more susceptible to it.
- Bacteria. Obviously. One of the bacteria that causes it is ever-present, though, so you cannot create a clean environment that doesn’t have it.
- Dampness. Dry hooves don’t get infected.
- Staying on one piece of ground too long.
- Coming back to a piece of ground too early.
- Genetics. Some sheep are just more susceptible to it. I encourage culling to tune your genetics.