Ozarks Farm & Neighbor Newspaper – written for, by & about farmers

Times are as bad for dairy producers as many of them have seen in their lifetimes; federal and state governments and producer associations are scrambling to find ways to keep the farmers in business, but nobody sees a quick turnaround.

Demand for beef is down. Can you blame the recession? Not entirely, but it’s a darned inconvenient coincidence.
It’s hard to argue that beef quality was too low, because production of every class of premium beef has been trending up for some time.

In the last article I started a series on foot problems and lameness in cattle. We covered regular foot rot and basic anatomy. Let’s move on to a common lameness in dairy cattle, and one seen once in a while in beef cattle, hairy heel warts. This is an infection caused by a Serpien species of bacteria. It is found in wet and nasty conditions, commonly in manure. This bacterium invades the heels of the rear feet, commonly causing strawberry-looking lesions with hair growing out of them. Hence, the name hairy heel warts. Others have also called it strawberry foot rot.

Name:  Dalton Haller, age 17
Parents:  Joe Haller and Allison Gentry
FFA Chapter:  Magazine FFA Chapter, Advisor, Joe Bob Stanton

Name:  Mike Bradshaw

B-J Manufacturing, Inc.

Owners:  Joe (right) and Pat Jones
Location:  Harrison, Ark.