Steven Robinson milks 125 Holstein Friesian cows at Longber Farm, near Lancaster. Until recently, he had been foot bathing the cows using a mix of Copper Sulphate and Formalin. However, ten months ago, after consulting with his local farm merchant, Steven decided to change to Provita Hoofsure Endurance. Since then he has been walking the dairy cows through the footbath every milking and walking the dry cows through three to four times a week will dramatic effect.
“The best money I’ve spent to improve cow health,” was Steven’s reply when asked what he thought about daily foot bathing.”
Steven recently changed to a Moore Concrete foot bath. It is filled using a volume washer that fits to bayonet fitting on the outside wall of the milking parlour and is emptied in to the underground channel that runs into a slurry tank.
“We used to moan about emptying and refilling the old footbath. Now, all it takes is five minute,” Steven confirmed.
What’s more, the cows are keener to go through the new footbath. It holds 400lt of water to which is added 4lt of Provita Hoofsure Endurance. In total, 125 cows are walked through every milking with 20 dry cows and the 5-8 transition cows going through every time a fresh mix is put in the footbath every fifth milking.
Hoofsure Endurance footbath solution can be used for daily foot bathing purposes. It is extremely cost effective, given its 1:100 dilution rate and the fact that a 200 litre footbath, containing Hoofsure Endurance, will be sufficient to cover up to 500 cow passes.