Utah State University

Identification of Genetic Regions Influencing Foot Rot in Sheep USU personnel will travel to farms for diagnosis of footrot and collection of samples. It is anticipated that multiple flocks will need to be sampled in order to collect 100 affected and 100 matched control animals. However, additional travel funds will be provided by the USU College of Agriculture if travel expenses exceed $2,000. Blood collection supplies include needles and vacutainer tubes, as well as diagnostic testing by the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at $15/sample.  Standard chemicals and supplies will be used for the DNA extraction, which an undergraduate student technician will perform under the direction of Ms. Tracy Hadfield, the senior technician in Dr. Noelle Cockett’s laboratory. All samples will be genotyped by Gene Seek using the Ovine SNP50 Bead Chip at $150/sample. Analysis of the data will be conducted by Ms. Hadfield and Dr. Cockett.