Diy sheep footbath idea

johngalway

Hi folks,

Can I get your thoughts on this idea please.

I've no foot bath for the flock (blackface). It's not a huge problem as I don't have much of a problem with lameness. Though, a couple of years ago I had a fair few quite lame lambs. I could not see any problem with their hooves other than their soles were very very white and soft looking Alamycin spray didn't seem to do much good, foot bathing may?

There's an old cattle crush beside my collecting pen at the shed. I was thinking of putting a new level floor in it and putting low walls at the side of it to keep any water in.

Then I would put something like slating lats (or smaller) around the inside of the wall. Mix up some cement and pour it in there.

I'd cut a section of ply and tack some small triangular lengths of timber to one side then place this on top of the wet cement and leave it set to provide a groove to separate the hooves.

When I remove the lats and the grooved ply, I should be left with a grooved raised area with a channel all around it to collect mix.

I'd also have a hole in the lowest part of the outer wall and insert a short section of pipe and tap on it so I could easily remove any mix into a container - that being the theory anyway.

I'd have the foot bath in two sections, one with water and pea gravel? for cleaning the hooves before they step into the next section and the mix.

Probably need to make a second race along side the first to give them a place to stand to dry - would keep the collecting pen free. A few small gates and that should be that

Am I missing or over complicating anything here?

ATB,

John

snowman707

why not buy a plastic foot bath and you always use it at different location later on if needed


http://www.jfc.ie/Footbaths.html#panel4

check FB1 and FB5 tabs on above link


also give Cormac eng. in tuam a buzz

johngalway

I fired JFC off an email earlier on. Though going by their UK prices I think my reaction will be :eek:

And they recommend having two!

sea12

johngalway wrote: »

I fired JFC off an email earlier on. Though going by their UK prices I think my reaction will be :eek:

And they recommend having two!

Hi John,

I was in a simalar position to yourself last year. Was going to make a concrete one the inside of the crush as I dont keep cattle anymore.
But I came across one of those JFC mobile ones at an auction. I got it for €20. I placed this inside the crush. It was a bit narrower than the crush. So I put some sheep gates inside the crush and used some timber lats as spacers to keep the crush the same width as the footbath.

Works Perfectly and can take it out to use as pen for dosing etc.

What price did they quote you.

johngalway

sea12 wrote: »

Hi John,

I was in a simalar position to yourself last year. Was going to make a concrete one the inside of the crush as I dont keep cattle anymore.
But I came across one of those JFC mobile ones at an auction. I got it for €20. I placed this inside the crush. It was a bit narrower than the crush. So I put some sheep gates inside the crush and used some timber lats as spacers to keep the crush the same width as the footbath.

Works Perfectly and can take it out to use as pen for dosing etc.

What price did they quote you.

They haven't replied yet, but I Googled "JFC sheep foot bath" earlier and the UK prices were hoovering around £200!

snowman707

did you ring cormac engineeing in tuam? they also have the sponges

BTW you will get a better price from your local co-op than dealing with jfc direct

reilig

We made up something similar about 20 years ago and its still in use. It was cheap, but did the job - if its done right it will last a lifetime, how long will a plastic one last??

My only advice is to make sure to add a drain to it which will ensure that you can drain the water from it. We have it in a crush and can drain the water from it if we want to use the crush for cattle - we have a piece of inch stainless steel pipe from an old milking machine with a tap on the end of it.

johngalway wrote: »

Hi folks,

Can I get your thoughts on this idea please.

I've no foot bath for the flock (blackface). It's not a huge problem as I don't have much of a problem with lameness. Though, a couple of years ago I had a fair few quite lame lambs. I could not see any problem with their hooves other than their soles were very very white and soft looking Alamycin spray didn't seem to do much good, foot bathing may?

There's an old cattle crush beside my collecting pen at the shed. I was thinking of putting a new level floor in it and putting low walls at the side of it to keep any water in.

Then I would put something like slating lats (or smaller) around the inside of the wall. Mix up some cement and pour it in there.

I'd cut a section of ply and tack some small triangular lengths of timber to one side then place this on top of the wet cement and leave it set to provide a groove to separate the hooves.

When I remove the lats and the grooved ply, I should be left with a grooved raised area with a channel all around it to collect mix.

I'd also have a hole in the lowest part of the outer wall and insert a short section of pipe and tap on it so I could easily remove any mix into a container - that being the theory anyway.

I'd have the foot bath in two sections, one with water and pea gravel? for cleaning the hooves before they step into the next section and the mix.

Probably need to make a second race along side the first to give them a place to stand to dry - would keep the collecting pen free. A few small gates and that should be that

Am I missing or over complicating anything here?

ATB,

John