A comparison of claw conformation and claw horn structure of two sheep breeds, and their relationship to footrot incidence

Abstract

This study compared claw conformation (length of dorsal border (DB), diagonal length (DL), dorsal angle (DA), heel height (HH), hardness) and claw horn structure (number of horn tubules, diameter of tubules medullary cavity (TC), thickness of tubules cortex (TX) and average and total horn tubules zone) of two sheep breeds. Heritabilities for these parameters were estimated and the relationship to the incidence of footrot investigated. In total, front and hind claws of 240 sheep of the two breeds Merinoland (ML; n= 142) and Rhoen sheep (RH; n= 98) were examined four times in monthly intervals. Animals were screened for footrot every second week during the study period. DL and DB, were greater in ML than in RH (P