Author Topic: All This wet Weather is affecting my sheeps feet (Read 7992 times)

Victorian Farmer · « **Reply #15 on:** July 18, 2012, 10:02:55 am »

Further heavy showers, but drier next week? . The longer range prospects are continuing to show signs of improvement

andywalt · « **Reply #16 on:** July 18, 2012, 07:18:49 pm »

Thanks for all the replies, its very much appreciated, if it continues to be wet in august I will definately borrow a foot bath, how often is it used? once a month? or once every two months?

landroverroy · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2012, 11:09:39 pm »

One of the simplest treatments for foot problems, and already mentioned by Sally, is simple lime. The beauty of it is that it requires no skill or special equipment and it is particularly effective in this wet weather as it not only kills the bacteria, but dries the feet up as well.
Just put some powdered lime thickly on the ground wherever the sheep regularly go, eg gateways, troughs, under mineral buckets etc. You need to keep adding more as it gets puddled up, but you will be surprised how soon the sheep's feet improve and for minimal effort.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #18 on:** July 19, 2012, 05:15:18 am »

Quote from: andywalt on July 18, 2012, 07:18:49 pm

Thanks for all the replies, its very much appreciated, if it continues to be wet in august I will definately borrow a foot bath, how often is it used? once a month? or once every two months?

For scaldy lambs, 2% formalin every two weeks is the recipe. I guess the same frequency if using Golden Hoof. The adult sheep shouldn't be needing it to the same extent, so once a month or every 6 weeks should suffice for them - but they should stand in the formalin for a few minutes, up to 10 minutes, and you could make the solution a bit stronger for them, up to 5%.

robert waddell · « **Reply #19 on:** July 19, 2012, 08:13:47 am »

the lime works as well but it has to be white lime or kibbled lime as it was referred to it would only work in a dry year or some place under cover don't know about the rest of you but if i were putting it down this year it would be a waste of time money and effort the sheep have had no need to come to the water trough and it would just be washed away

landroverroy · « **Reply #20 on:** July 19, 2012, 04:08:06 pm »

Well I've got a pile of lime in a corner of a field and I get the dog to drive the sheep onto it each day and it seems to have sorted all but 2 which were limping. These days I wrestle with the sheep as little as possible, but it looks like I'll have to get the foot shears and spray out for those two. Still better than having to turn a dozen over, or driving then through a foot bath and watching their antics while they try to avoid the liquid by going through on tip toe or by balancing on the side of the foot bath.