THE ATHLETIC HORSE

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While most horses do not require pads year round, a horse with laminitis, navicular disease, or one that is prone to bruising on heels or sole from genetically flattened feet or lax tendons may benefit from padded shoes. Unless your horse has one of these problems, I would suggest keeping the pads off. Turn out and regular exercise on appropriate supporting surfaces help strengthen and toughen feet and may provide an alternative to chronic padding. Try not to be overzealous with the hoof knife or rasp, so as to remove too much hoof yet leave behind a flat (vs. concave) sole. Your farrier will use appropriate caution to make sure sole and frog are well above ground level. Finally, formulas with phenol, formalin, or even straight Clorox precipitate and injure valuable sole, and may weaken the hoof wall if used on a regular basis in solutions or baths.

What concentration of iodine is needed in teat dips—should you require a certain percentage?

— Judith Greene
Rutland, VT

The cleaner an udder is when it's time to put on the teat cups, the lower the concentration of germicide needed to kill the bacteria that causes mastitis. A famous dairy veterinarian, now professor emeritus and a friend of mine, once told me in school that you should aim for three things in the udder-care department: clean, dry, and comfortable. If the udder hygiene program is up to speed, then the concentration of sanitizer can be low.

Research has indicated that 0.1 to 0.5 percent iodine dips are useful for premilking bacterial reduction. These same concentrations and up to 1.0 percent iodine were effective after milking. Just as important as the concentration of the dip, however, were things like its viscosity (which may change in weather extremes and will affect the amount of dip that adheres to each teat), addition of any skin conditioners (which ultimately will affect how often the dip is used) and its residue potential (probably a bigger problem with pre-milking dips).

Try to keep the teats clean with warm water and dried properly (individual paper toweling), especially after milking, to avoid using dips as much as possible and to strive for the lowest concentration germicide in the dip. Phone several companies before purchasing to see if their dips have been tested both in controlled research environments and in the field, and have been shown to be not only efficacious but safe to the udder as well.

We have several cows lame with what looks to be symptoms of founder. We don't have much mastitis. Could this be feed related?—Richard Newcomb
Lebanon, PA

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