Foot rot is a highly contagious bacterial disease causing severe lameness in sheep, and effective flock management can dramatically reduce its welfare impact.
Foot rot causes intense pain — affected sheep are often seen kneeling to eat because standing is too painful — and is frequently undertreated because lameness is normalized on many farms. The welfare standard for sheep lameness should be zero tolerance for chronic untreated cases, with prompt identification and treatment of any lame animals. The Five Point Plan provides farmers with a practical evidence-based eradication framework that genuinely works. Consumer choices that support farms with documented low lameness prevalence and the certification schemes that monitor it provide the market pressure to drive adoption of these practices at scale.