What Is Foul In The Foot?
A common infection that can be found between the digits of cows is often referred to as “Foul In The Foot” (FITF). If the tissue area under the skin becomes infected, it can lead to severe cases of pain, inflammation, and swelling of the foot, and ultimately to lameness. The most common cause for fattening units and young stock to become lame is Foul in the Foot. The infection can occur at any age of the animal, though, regardless of whether or not the dairy herd is out to graze or housed. It’s not uncommon for young heifers that have been recently introduced into your herd to be infected with FITF.
Unfortunately, the cause of FITF is a form of bacteria that is common to a cow’s everyday environment. Cuts, injuries, and inflamed skin are the main points of entry for the bacteria. A cow will often move between dry hard ground and muddy wet areas, passing through cow gates and standing near troughs. These environments can cause natural damage or softening of the interdigital skin, in turn helping the disease spread.
Foul In The Foot Check List
Like most diseases, the quicker you spot it, the quicker you can begin treatment. A few of the more clinical signs of FITF that should be easy to spot are as follows:
- A distinctive foul odour coming from between the claws
- Body Temperature Increase
- Inflammation and Swelling of the feet, particularly the front
- Reduced weight gain and milk yield due to loss of appetite
- Noticeable severe lameness appears suddenly. Usually only on one limb.
Diagnose & Treat Foul in the Foot
The first step is to perform a close examination of the cow’s foot so you can make sure that the injury is not caused by penetration, trauma, or just bruising of the limb and is, in fact caused by FITF.
Once you’ve done this, it’s important to treat Foul In The Foot early. While it’s known that some cases can recover naturally and without treatment, these cases will still see a persistent case of lameness in the animal that lasts for several weeks, causing further problems with weight gain and milk production. If treatment is delayed, the animal may suffer from further complications such as joint involvement.
CZF Plus and CZ Hoof Care Plus can be used as a preventative treatment or an aid in the healing of arrange of hoof problems in conjunction with any recommendations by your vet.
Can You Prevent Foul In The Foot Disease?
The quick answer to this is, unfortunately, no. The bacteria that are associated with FITF are common and widespread in the environment that your herd will live in, making complete eradication of the disease impossible. In this case, you should always look to reduce the risks and try to keep Foul In The Foot in your herd to a minimum.
So How Do We Do That?
Improve Walkways – Tracks and walkways only really need to be only one cow wide. If yours are wider, you should look to decrease the width.
Improve Gateways & Troughs – Aim to fill in the stony and muddy areas that are common around gateways and troughs. A stronger, dryer surface can help to prevent injury to cattle.
Improve Housing – Make sure to scrape the floor of the housing area at least twice per day and ensure there are no slurry pools.
Improve Cleanliness – Try to keep the feet of your cattle as clean as possible. Following the other improvements will help with this.
Improve Footbaths – CZF Plus used at 5% solution for Cattle and 10% for Sheep & Goats in your footbath is an excellent addition to your routine and a replacement of straight formaldehyde or other products to prevent and aid in the healing of hoof conditions.
For further information about the CZ & CZF products, contact us today.
