[Footbath as treatment of footrot in sheep. Current -situation on Swiss sheep farms]

Footrot in sheep should be eradicated in Switzerland in the future. Based on scientific findings, this can be achieved with disinfectant footbaths. It is unknown how many sheep farmers are already using this means and how it is used. The current study evaluated the farm operation, the design of the footbath, the use of disinfectants and footbath with a written survey of a representative sample of all sheep farmers. The sample population was selected randomly, however stratified by language region and herdsize to control for differences between these groups. 45.3% (n=1134) of the distributed questionnaires were received for evaluation. On average 32.8% of the respondents used a footbath. Even on large farms (> 50 animals), which were more frequently affected by footrot, a footbath was available only in 52.6% of the farms in the French-speaking part and 67.7% in the German/Italian speaking part of Switzerland. The footbaths were correctly applied in most respects (e.g., pre-claw cleaning, liquid level and concentration of disinfectants, time in the footbath, post-bath drying phase) in the current study. Most commonly mobile plastic baths were in use. The disinfectants used were mainly formalin, copper and zinc sulfate. The incorrect disposal of the heavy-metal containing copper and zinc sulfate solutions was identified as an important problem: In 59% of the sheep farms the remaining footbath solutions were disposed in the slurry pit or manure storage. In summary the current study recommends (i) to motivate sheep farmers to use a footbath for the treatment and prevention of footrot, and (ii) to replace the currently used disinfectants with substances that are non-toxic to humans, animals and the environment.