[Marlboro]

Hmm, have you tried this, well we have managed to get 43 ewes and their lambs through a golden hoof wash, hold for two minutes and release on to hard standing for an hour. I have never seen such chaos, trying to push a very large ewe into the race is no fun, to have to repeat it 43 times is very tiring
The lambs were not that keen either to say the least and we have some large lambs now, they come out with very sore feet but the ones we did yesterday seem to be much better today. Here's hoping that it does some good as some of the lambs had started to signs of scald.
 Its the bad weather and my softness to blame, allowing them access to the two barns.
Hoping for some grass soon.

[SallyintNorth]

On the moorland farm we had, in wet years especially, to run the ewes and lambs through the footbath, sometimes every couple or three weeks for a couple of months.

530 ewes and their 800+ lambs... 

Golden hoof is a great product but harder to use, as you have to hold them in it for a few minutes so can't get them flowing, following each other, through the race/footbath.

Walking them through weak (2%) formalin does keep scald at bay - the big downside with formalin is that once it's contaminated with dung, it starts to become rapidly less effective, so it's a one-time use only, and for our 800+ lambs we woud have to clear out and refill the footbath several times.  Disposal is also an issue.

Tips for getting lambs to move - they will move towards their mothers, or where they last saw their mothers.  So if you can arrange your pens, race and footbath so that the lambs can see their mums the other side of the footbath, they are keener to go through. Also, keep a few ewes with the lambs to settle them, especially if the ewes are used to the footbath and will enter it willingly.

[Foobar]

On the third go they have usually got the hang of it!

[Ina]

Friend of mine has to get them through the footbath every few weeks, too - and standing in it for quite a while, too. They get used to it.

[ZaktheLad]

Getting mine just to run through the field gate in to the yard is bad enough - there's always one ewe that decides not to play the game or a lamb that decides to run the wrong side of the open gate!   

[Foobar]

Getting mine just to run through the field gate in to the yard is bad enough - there's always one ewe that decides not to play the game or a lamb that decides to run the wrong side of the open gate!   

ditto that, my lambs took me on a merry dance last night - two laps around the orchard and then back to where they started before I eventually got them through the gate where they were supposed to go!  Oh well, it's cheaper than going to the gym!

[feldar]

 
We pop ours down the race to worm and vaccinate and footbath. I've found if done reguarly they soon get the hang of it. We weigh lambs reguarly too, so they learn quite early to run down the race into the weigh crate. Saying that there's always the difficult one who has to get stuck or jump out!

[Marches Farmer]

Big vote of confidence here for Footvax.  Checked the feet of ours and jabbed them in June 2007, moved them onto pasture that hadn't been grazed for 21 days.  Checked them and moved them onto clean pasture again.  Run a closed flock, apart from new rams that are quarantined for 6 weeks (as are returning hire rams).  Haven't seen footrot OR scald since.  Only thing I'd do differently is to jab in Autumn.  The hoggets found the oil adjuvant irritating and rubbed the injection spot raw, necessitating catching and spraying with antibiotic spray every few days to keep the flies off.  Vaccine is expensive but the time I've saved since ..... and haven't needed to jab them again, either.

[feldar]

M F we were thinking of footvaxing  this year but have spoken to people who had problems at the injection site. I keep weighing up the pros and cons, expense being one of them! but i think it would save us time on footbathing

[twizzel]

I share your pain! Yesterday we just had to worm all the young cattle, around 10 heifers, a 18mth old bull, 12 6mth calves and 13 calves still on their mothers. One set of calves escaped over the corn fields, the other bolted out to the fields when the gates opened but made a quick turn and bolted back in once wormed, the young bull nearly tipped the crush over, the old bull that went to market yesterday wouldn't load onto the lorry and pinned my OH up against a gate. Oh and the sheep came in for crovect and also fled the opposite way to the shed, and once put back out to the field went on the corn too.
Oh we'll just worm the cows today and crovect the sheep... pah!

[Foobar]

...
Oh we'll just worm the cows today and crovect the sheep... pah!

It's that word ... "just".  Never use it, it'll always guarantee trouble! 

[feldar]

Oh and don't forget the term my hubby uses " it should only take a few minuits..........."  two hours later a hot sweaty woman, and hot sweaty overstressed sheep and a bad tempered husband! need i say more

[SteveHants]

Oh and don't forget the term my hubby uses " it should only take a few minuits..........."  two hours later a hot sweaty woman, and hot sweaty overstressed sheep and a bad tempered husband! need i say more

Ah yes the famous "this should only take a morning, max and then we can go off and do something else after lunch"......


Cue finishing well after dark, covered in mud, blood (usually mine) and crap...

[bizzielizzie66]

  Sounds very, very familiar - however it's my OH who has no concept of how long things take. I tend to know only too well but try not to dent his optimism with my gritty realism and I feign surprise at how much longer it took than he thought it would - while wiping off the mud, blood and crap off me