Animal Health & Welfare

Foot bathing can be a successful preventative measure and treatment as long as the penetration of foot bathing solution into infected tissues is maximised. Recommendations are given below on how this can be achieved.

Foot bath design and sheep handling

Many sheep handling facilities are inadequate for the effective control of lameness. 

Mobile handling systems, for example, often do not incorporate a foot bath of adequate size to allow a large number of sheep to stand for enough time in the solution.  As an example, sheep need to stand in zinc sulphate solution for around 30 minutes to effectively treat footrot.  

One approach is to build a permanent 'stand-in' (as opposed to 'walk-through') foot bathing area comprising of fibre-glass foot baths set into the ground surrounded by a fence.  This makes it reasonably efficient to treat sheep every time they are handled. 

For lowland flocks, Defra recommend that treatment should be performed at least five times per year in the absence of problems such as footrot, and substantially more if lameness is a particular problem on the farm. 

The following recommendations given by Defra will ensure that foot bathing solutions have the best chance of penetrating into the infected tissue:

• Use a simple water bath before entry to the main treatment foot bath - this will help to remove organic matter that would act as a barrier to penetration
• Follow the manufacturers recommended concentration and stand-in times - failure to do so can dramatically reduce the effectiveness of the treatment or render it useless.  Suggested solutions are given in the table below.
• Use foot baths with a corrugated base to spread the claws and allow penetration
• Allow the animals to stand on a hard dry surface for around an hour after foot bathing and then turn them out onto a dry pasture - turning them out onto wet pasture immediately will simply cause the dilution of the chemical

Further information by Defra on foot bathing and other preventative and treatment approaches to lameness can be found using the link to the right under 'related internet links'. 

Formalin	Formalin is a 40% solution of formaldehyde and requires further dilution before use on farm. A 3% solution can be used for the routine treatment of scald in lambs outside Up to a 5% solution can be used for the occasional treatment of footrot after foot paring
10% zinc sulphate solution	Zinc sulphate is less dangerous than formalin and is now the preferred chemical for foot bath treatments. To be effective, sheep must stand in the solution up to the depth of their hooves for as long as possiible, ideally 30 minutes After this, standing on a clean, dry surface for a further hour is recommended
Antibiotic solutions	Recommended for the treatment of CODD (under prescription from a vet) Although antibiotic treatments for CODD will significantly improve footrot and scald conditions, their application primarily for footrot and scald is regarded as misuse