Written by: Mutinta Mulokota, Veterinary Doctor
Dirty boots can be the cause of serious diseases at your farm. Unintentionally, people can carry pest or disease causing organisms or unwashed footwear, bringing them in to your farm without even realising it. Dirt and mud can carry pieces of infected manure or infected plant material. Even soil itself can carry diseases directly from one farm to another.
A very secure way to protect your animals from infections is to ensure that visitors thoroughly wash and disinfect their footwear.
In particular, high-risk visitors who have been on other farms in the area recently should be asked to clean their shoes or change their footwear before moving onto your backyard. People who are simply dropping in at the house and not coming into contact with your crops or livestock are low risk and do not need to do this.
What you will need for a proper footbath
- A low plastic pan or bin that is wide enough to fit an adult’s foot andshallow enough that it can be stepped into easily
- A plastic doormat
- A disinfectant that works well and is approved by your local government
- Water
Steps
- Place the mat into the bottom of the bin.
- Mix the disinfectant with the appropriate amount of water, pour enough disinfectant into the bin that the bottom of the mat is wet, but not enough disinfectant that peoples’ feet will get wet.
- Ask any visitors to walk through the footbath and wipe their feet on the mat. The mat will scrub their shoes and apply disinfectant.
- When the liquid starts to get dirty, empty it and replenish with new disinfectant. It is advisable to do this regularly, depending on your disinfectant and the number of visitors that go through it. We advise you to do replenish the disinfectant at least once per week.
Click here to buy an effective disinfectant.
