A pilot workshop for sheep producers was undertaken in Clare, empowering those in the industry with the knowledge and strategies to address sheep lameness.
The free ‘Happy Feet, Happy Sheep’ workshop was held at the Clare Bowling Club on 28 November, shedding a light on common causes of sheep lameness, most notably footrot.
The workshop was delivered by Livestock SA, covering the diagnosis and management of common lameness conditions in sheep and providing updates on the SA footrot program and a six-step guide to keeping footrot off farms.
Industry experts delivered current information and advice to attendees, including via a live demonstration with a footrot infected sheep where experts taught participants identification methods.
Private veterinarian and Livestock SA board member Colin Trengove was one of the facilitators of the event, tasked with delivering the information to the attendees.
Mr Trengove said the workshop was part of a larger effort to increase awareness of footrot and its prevalence in South Australia, empowering producers and industry workers with the knowledge to diagnose and manage the condition.
“The disease is far more prevalent than most people appreciate,” he said.
“The purpose of this pilot is to create a greater awareness of the amount of footrot present around the state, but also to provide the information you need to deal with it, in terms of recognising it, and eventually controlling or eradicating it.
“We’re really trying to take a proactive approach in getting producers to admit to having the disease, because it’s considered a stigma to have foot rot.
“A lot of people hide it or don’t recognise it, so we’re trying to reverse that situation so producers will be more willing to go and actively do something about it.”
Mr Trengove said the disease can have significant production and economic implications for producers, as well as presenting welfare concerns.
“We want to encourage producers to identify it early and economically get rid of it, as opposed to living with it and having it cost them a lot of money,” he said.
Mr Trengove said it was positive to see a range of attendees at the workshop, including producers, stock agents and industry representatives.
“People tend to think the Mid North is a footrot free zone, but that is not the case,” he said.
“People who have it either don’t realise, or they don’t talk about it.
“This is really part of an awareness campaign, trying to change people’s attitudes because the stigma has been the biggest issue, and probably always will be.
“We have to do a lot more educating so that people know what they’re looking for, working with agents as much as producers, having agents as a diagnostician.”
