Life Sciences Commons^™

Eradicating Virulent Footrot From Western Australia, R K. Mitchell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia has a unique opportunity to eradicate virulent footrot from the State's sheep flock, with only 62 properties or 0.6 per cent of sheep properties currently in quarantine. The majority of Western Australian flocks are now free of virulent footrot, with targeted on-farm and abattoir surveillance used to detect the remaining properties affected by the disease. Bob Mitchell reports on how farmers, industry, and government are working together, with research playing an important part in the eradication campaign.

Progress Toward Eradication Of Virulent Footrot, Bob Mitchell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia is well placed to eradicate virulent footrot from the State's sheep and goat populations.

Between 1950 and 1993 the proportion of sheep flocks with footrot fell from about 15 per cent to less than 2 percent, and the 1990-92 outbreak has been turned around. One hundred and eighty properties (]. 7 per cent) of flocks, mostly in the high rainfall South-West, are in quarantine for footrot today.

This high level of footrot control is the result of strong support from the sheep industry and years of good cooperation between farmers and the Department of Agriculture.

Western Australia leads …

New Technique Joins The Fight Against Footrot, Laurie Depiazzi, Mike Palmer, David Pitman

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The diagnosis of footrot in sheep and goats is not an easy task. Two main techniques are used for diagnosis - inspection of diseased feet on a farm and laboratory testing of bacteria isolated from foot scrapings. The interpretation of the results obtained by these methods requires a good understanding of the various forms of footrot.

A new laboratory technique has halved the time taken to detect those strains of the bacterium, Bacteroides (Dichelobacter) nodosus, that cause each form of the disease.

New Developments In Footrot Control, R B. Richards, L. J. Depiazzi, R. V. R. Gwynn

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The eradication policy for footrot in sheep adopted by the Western Australian Department of Agriculture has produced an overall decline in the number of properties with the disease.

Our knowledge of the disease has improved substantially as a result of the research conducted at the Slabany Regional Veterinary Laboratory in recent years. Laboratory tests now sssist stock inspectors and veterinary officers to distinguish between different forms of footrot and to quarantine and eradicate accordingly.

The recent discovery of more effective foot-bathing solutions by officers of the Victorian Department of Agriculture will greatly assist further eradication procedures.

Western Australia's sheep industry …

Warning : Footrot Threatens South-West Sheep Industry, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

DURING the past few months footrot has appeared in sheep in the South-West in an area extending from Busselton southwards to Kudardup.

This area has only recently been stocked with sheep which have been purchased from many sources.

It is probable that there were a few "carriers" amongst these introduced sheep, and that under the favourable conditions of the South-West the infection was able to develop and spread and then to declare itself in clinical form.