31st July, 2023

We had severe winds last night, a few trees down on roads but all ok here. Tonight is apparently going to be worse and so far it sounds like it.

The sheep are limping again. I asked the vet if there was a one-off injection or a long acting antibiotic to protect them from the foot scald caused by the relentless wet, but it turns out the alamycin spray or foot baths are the only practical solutions.

The daily in and out of the shearing shed race wrestling the sheep and trying to hang onto kicking feet has about done me in. And to be fair the sheep are pretty well over it too. So I am going to try the foot bath. 

Sheep don't like walking through water, in fact you can hear them yelling "I'm melting ! I'm melting !" if they are forced to. But they will tolerate mushy surfaces, one reason alot of proper foot baths include a sponge mat. The bath doesn't splash and it feels safer and firmer for the sheep. But I don't have one of those. 

So here's my improvisation ... the sheep are hanging out in one bay of the hayshed. In here they have dry bedding and free access to hay. 

But they need to go outside for water and to graze.So I set up a race so that there is only one way in and out of the shed.

I put straw at both ends of the race, so that it would be a familiar surface to walk on and lead naturally into the foot bath filled with straw. The race is a zig zag so they can't get up the momentum to run through it or leap over half of it.

I used straw because unlike hay they won't be tempted to eat it, and because the texture means that the stems will help clean mud out from between their toes and get the bath into all the crevices, and it won't turn into a slimy mess like hay. The air filled stems will remain more fluffy.

Once they've had a chance to exit and enter via the race and bath I'll add water (though I think the rain is doing that tonight) and blend in a good slug of copper sulphate granules. This should only be about 10cm deep and sit nicely below the straw, only their feet getting damp when they go through. If needed I'll add a little extra straw once it compacts down.

In other news I picked up a small loaf of locally made sourdough from Scottsdale while I was in getting my flu shot. Spread with butter and warmed til the butter melts, it's one of life's little luxuries.