Happy hooves with sheep

0:00Welcome to the sheep show podcast, the place where tree people from all over the world come to learn, laugh and level up their flock skills. We're your hosts, a brother and sister from opposite sides of the world. I'm Andru coming to you from the Green Hills of Ireland. I'm Jill joining in from Down Under in Australia. Together we bring you practical tips, proven techniques and real conversations about everything sheep, from breeding, behavior to business and everyday realities of raising healthy happy animals. Whether you're new shepherd, a seasoned producer or simply sheep curious, this is your weekly dose of knowledge, community and a touch of sibling banter. Grab a cup of all your farm roots and the style in today's episode, sheep show podcast. Andru says he has a game changer.

1:02Yeah. You want to talk about it now? I've heard you want to talk about it later. Oh, no, you go ahead, you go ahead. Well, I, I feel enough, I'll probably sort of put a bit of perspective to this conversation. So I had a show on the weekend, like an exhibit, you know, so you don't actually just need to get judged, but you bring them out and put them in pen and people can come and talk to you about the sheep. So like an exhibit or like an expo. And I was talking different breed sheep, but eight or nine different breeds of sheep there as well as mine. And I do a little bit of emceeing at the event. So I was talking to other breeders on the microphone and then personally talking to them as well. And I don't really want to name names of some sheep too much. Anyway, so one breeder who has a shed another shedding sheep. A composite type shedding sheep developed in New South Wales, pretty, pretty obvious.

2:05If you know, you know, you know, kind of thing. Anyway, and he was saying, you know, he's breeding these sheep down in our country is kind of Phillip Island. Actually, you know, Phillip Island. And he was saying he's working on the sheep so that they are more adaptable and more adapted to the conditions down here. And then we had someone else that sort of chat about the sheep. Come and look at our sheep and was chatting about this hybrid of sheep. And we're saying that he was having a lot of feet problems. So I suppose personally, I don't have, and I'll tell you what I do have, but I don't have typical feet issues with my sheep. I don't have to foot bath them. I don't have to trim them very much. Maybe 10% of my flock once a year. Of course, I will do beautification treatments on my show sheep. And will help anything that's sort of in in pain or anything.

3:08But the feet stuff we're going to talk about. I'm very little kind of very little exposure because it doesn't happen because I can see that one over there. It's crazy. Yes, you have very good dry ground, you have hilly ground, you have good tracks. That kind of sand kind of wears down this piece and it kind of keeps their feet right. You do move them on the tracks a lot, which I think helps. Yeah. You haven't got a lot of mods or community community places where they all come brigade and stuff like that. You don't do that. When you don't do that, you know, you don't spread the whole thing around. That's right. That you're doing well. And then your sheep have this like natural foot problems are not there.

4:11That's it. Only the only time I get a foot problem is if they're heavy fat in lamb, they'll get an abscess between their toes. Yeah. That's and I haven't actually. I find it now, I don't a lot of footballing. I had from buying another sheep. I had that as opposed buying in everybody else's problems, not saying that I hadn't problems myself. Probably had as well. And then buying in sheep that didn't have problems into a herd that had problems. So you know yourself. That's the biggest, biggest problem. I see you're buying in sheep. You're buying problems or you buy in sheep that aren't resistant to the problems that you have. You have. Yeah. So what I was talking about bacteria here, like what what what the real problem is is the back. Little bacteria that lives in the side. Yes. If you walk it right that you do not graze your paddocks.

5:12You graze them today. You don't graze them for another 14 days. Your bacteria will die in that paddock. Yeah. And. Yeah. If you walk it like that. Yes. And then dip. Move. Go to a fresh paddock that has been rested for 14 days. Dip. Move. You know that kind of thing. Yeah. My sheep don't bother doing that. They're probably not able to move themselves. So that's how I decided to find this. Because they had a neighbor. So they don't really have a tattoo. Don't have sheep around me. Yeah. And what for that? What I have done is. Yes, I went. Football. Football. Football. Football. Every time they're in. The hard to go out to the football. That was if the exit over the highlight was to be. Was through a football race. But they had created. Very. Which is a brilliant setup. Basically you just put it in the. You know, the straightest. Narrowest part of the race. And. Yeah. Once actually they get used to us.

6:13The sheep. They just have to do it all themselves. We can put them in twice. I've often put in a back to shape that kind of. Maybe we're a little sore on the feet. Or I put them in twice. And. The next time the twin is just called bang. So it's true again. No problem. But I have found. Now I put them all in the shade. I had no land shape. And I put them in the shade now. Yes. Everyone I tell you. You put your sheep in for. Extended period of time in the shade. You will get for. What problems. Because. Soiled bedding. The stuff gets cake on the feet. Damn this. Yes, dampness. Bacterial spread. The congregate. The feeders. Everything is working against them. So yes, I have what problems back again. And. Yes, I brought a pen of sheep out and dipped them. Yes, I try to do sheep's feet and brought on labor. No, I'm sort of mad stuff. But I have found. A little.

7:14Sort of a spray. That I feel this is working very well for me. That it's. Sticky is. The stickiest, the keyest stuff that I've ever. Actually, I smell of it. But it's very, very sticky stuff. It's. I know a guy in the top of the only goal. Who is a rep for this stuff. Now, look. You don't believe everybody. Everything that everybody says. Or everything that you see on Snapchat or anything. But. Yeah. See, it's all in keely land. Now, he's a lot of. Sheep and a lot of different greens like I have. And he's way more sheep than I have. I'd say. And. He's cattle. And he's big farmer now. And he's also. Well, he has a very full answer guy. Find us.

8:14Look and spot the evidence. What is a wrap for. Probe her. P R O V I T a. Okay. Probe her. So. His name is Owen Keely. He. He is. This book now definitely thinks that he has... So Northern Irish Company? Yeah, he's a wreck for this crowd. So I have been using Hoosure Combat. Yes. In a spray bottle. Yeah. And it's in around 20 quid between two euros. And I really like this though. How do you know? It's got acids and tea tree oil. Yes, yes, yes. I actually did Brian talk to you about the bin spray?

9:15No. Oh, because we had so he'd eat at least food when he was here. This is Brian who's been on the podcast. And I gave him some tea tree oil for his fish. Wow. Cheers. Hang on, I'll go get it. He's talking though, because we're recording live. Yeah, so I really like this stuff. I see him using some of this Provita stuff. I used to use a scowl halter, kind of a squirt down the lambs, choked, because I was already in the shed. And then this Provita is doing that now. And then I just seen this Hoosure. And Hoosure stuff. And I seen him tipping over a show. Yo, that was there when we gave her two squirts. And the next day the old had slight improvements. You could see he says, no, there's the oil there yesterday. And I have just bought a bottle of this. I thought it was good value, because it was a big bottle.

10:17I give it a bit of a squirt of that. Maybe if they're bad, gives him a squirt of green stuff as well as green spray as well. And then the silver spray. And then there'd be a shot of better marks or pellet film or something like that. And I see that it is, it is working now. Yeah, it's definitely, yeah. Wow, so this, this is what? No, you can lift the spray. You can lift it now. Okay, so the one that you were talking about has tea tree oil. This has got you, colipters. But when you read this one, I'm just using this is, what are the toes, which is an Australian surface spray? Yeah, okay. And you can use, I use it for the bin, mostly, but you can use it on stains, on clothes, but it's an anti-fungal. There you go. So I wonder is tea tree oil acting in the same way? Yeah, well, there's that book, there's a funky smile off it, but definitely, definitely think it's one stuff.

11:18It's sticky, sticky as bedown, it's like. Yeah, you don't want to say, if you spray some of that out of my sister's spray, which is good too, and don't get me wrong, it probably works. It works a lot for people that, but doesn't stick and the water that's gone, and they're all pissed off. Get on your hands, and your hands are stuck together like. Yeah, wow. There you go. Yeah, you take it to a good job now. Definitely take it to a good spot. That's great. That's great. And do you find that there are certain, like, of all the breeds of sheep you have, there are certain ones that, certain breeds, that have more issues? Let's take a quick break. If you're a pet owner who wants real talk on training, behavior, and everyday life with animals, check out the Fresh Patch Podcast, hosted by Drew and Gabe. We cover the wins, the challenges, and everything in between. So wherever you listen, search the Fresh Patch Podcast. We're good pets, get it.

12:21Yeah, yeah, definitely with some breeds that have a higher, you know, resistance again, the sort of bacteria, better, the ocean, something darker, definitely. Because when we did your Rams feet when I was home in 2020, 2022, I think, I was quite surprised at how bad the blue face, Lester and Rams feet, what was? Yeah, yeah, they'd be very soft now. Blue Lester's would be renowned for being a soft sheep, like the bulls, high mints and soft sea. Very big of themselves as well. Huge big lumps of hands, like the heart of the feet, stuff like that. Yeah, but yeah, look, yeah, definitely. Then he was an old guy. He was, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah. There you go, that's great. So what we're talking about here is, who sure combat spray from Provida animal health?

13:24I had to do it, do it with a ray of other stuff, like you do. Yeah, huge ray. Lab a classroom, do a huge range of stuff, which I just think that was just one product that I bought on a sort of a prompt, and then a sort of a winny. And I just think, yeah, it worked, it worked very well. What did you just buy that online? I bought her that she products that are you? Oh, well, she products that are you? Okay, cool. Yeah. Yeah, because I think all of these ag companies don't have a direct to market option. Oh, wow, there's actually one for horses too. For the horses who are in the stables all the time. There's a hoof shore. I don't know if it's the same one. The only problem with the whole hoof health care, hoof care, there's so much that can go wrong with the shoes.

14:25Oh, wrong. That's exactly it. You know, yeah. You have fur off your strawberry fur. You have skull. You have an end of digital dermatitis. Yeah. I just can't tell you this. Oh, I'm sort of. Yeah, abscesses. Blocks glands in the in the. Yes, yes. Blocks glands in the front of the hoof. Yeah. A pairing. Ellie's foot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So when you buy in the stuff and you just get one of these things that spreads around with this like. Yeah. Wine fire. Yeah. So I think there is. Again, much like a lot of our conversations. There's a preventative element. And then there's the curative element. And it sounds like you're using who's sure when there's an actual issue. If there's an issue. If there's an issue appears. Yeah. Yeah, when I. So when I think when I get my sheep out. And I'm confident that I can run my sheep. I don't have the. The hands of a city who's sort of. Causing premature.

15:26Labor. And. I can then run to the foot bag. Can I get under control over the whole thing then? And I probably. You put in your. What path? What ingredients. A little. I put in. It's. It's kind of a. Who. Who's clean? It's called. Yeah. And then I put in blue stone as well. Copper sulfate. Copper sulfate. So you just sprinkle that in. Yeah. In the liquid. It's sprinkled. I said the day before I want to do the foot bath. Sprinkle it in. Make it up. And then before you do it. Just do the mix. So kind of have it made up twice or 24 hours before you. Yeah. You actually. Do any foot bath. And. Yeah. And I tend to try to bring them in. Try to have the hands of a city. You can't bring them in. Just run those straight out trips. And I leave them down on the bank for a while. And then. Yeah. Let them go back out the field. So after 10 or 15 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

16:26Right. But hopefully. Yeah. Yeah. Do them now as they're going out. You know. Okay. Yeah. As you're putting them out into the into the paddock after laminate. Yeah. Yeah. Is do you find the copper sulfate caustic? Very caustic. Very. Yes. Yes. Everything. It comes into contact with just dissolves. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And it really eats eats away act like the. The. Yeah, I just can't. I can't read a letter. Then. Again. Do you have any. Wow. Is the. Maynard steel. Doesn't it. Or whatever the. The yards are made of. Yes, it is. rup. Wow. You know, should. Yeah. Dominic. You know, it's that. That's how we gonna think about that. How much? Correct. perimeter is better than the. Which is. six. It may 304 is curing the destroyer 304, so 304 made the destroyer, but it definitely

17:34will galvanize my steel if it's just a centrifugal. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I definitely noticed when I was I was using it. Actually, I used copper sulfate for scabbymouth. Oh wow. Yeah. I made up a mixture of almost Vaseline or apple cider vinegar or something maybe apple cider vinegar and copper sulfate and smeared it on the mouth. It gets rid of it, but it's easy. Yeah. Yeah. But you kind of you killed my kill a few. That's what I hope. You don't know whether it's scabbymouth or whatever that's killed a little more or that. Years ago in Ireland, I probably didn't do it now. I don't know, but I often heard him tell him a given cow's teaspoon of blue stuff, which is copper sulfate, in a say, a vatular part of water, mix it up and kind of dose it into a cow to kill it. Yeah. Or the like the worms. Yes. Internally. Oh, yes. Or so. Yes. Yes. Great job on our, you know. Vatular. Well, that's what they say,

18:41you know, again, we were talking here about sort of prevention. So, and I'm going to just two things I want to mention, but I think minerals will help. Yeah. So minerals will help the immunity for parasites, but potentially also for resistance in terms of the feet, you know, and that sort of thing too. Yeah. But I think two, two things that I think make a huge difference to reducing feet issues or preventing feet issues. One is choosing the right sheep for your environment. Yeah, the land that you've got, like you've noticed in different different breeds of sheep, having different issues and some having more foot issues than others. So that's number one. And then number two would be the structural correctness of the animal. Yeah, definitely. So the more even they walk, the less likely it is that they're going to have,

19:42you know, overgrown toes or, you know, yes, I've often seen, seen rams with twisted back feet that kind of curled in and curled out probably Jews with probably Jews of breeding. Yeah. You know, yeah, you can't get the perfect sheep, like, you know, it's hard to get the perfect sheep, you know, try and buy the best you can kind of thing to sort of stop those things. Yeah. And then, of course, all the preventative measures would be just this pairing, just trimming, if you need to, preventing foot bathing, as Andrew's talking about, and then having a selection of sprays on hand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I know it's daunting that the hand levels that it has has a kind of change that for me that I can get my sheep in. I can run over the hand and say, he likes yours. And you separate the lamones, you do a bit of doctor in every sort of day, kind of keep on top of it. And it's not, it's, it's very hard when they're in

20:45a loose yard and you have to try to catch them. It's not simply like, you need some sort of quarantine on tightness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Not simply. No. No. No, you've got to try and reduce, reduce the labor, increase the efficiencies and safety as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you're hard to have. You're sad. I'm hard to shape. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Good. Well, there you go. And yes, they're all looking through the back catalog of episodes. And there is an episode on lameness and hoof care, which goes into all the technical detail around the types of bacteria we were talking about and so on. But I think that's a really good, yeah, a really good message from Andrew there. It's around that 14 days. And how, you know, that's the, that's that timeframe. The bacteria thrives in temperatures above 10 degrees,

21:47warm moist. And again, it leaves on the soil for 14 days. So rotational grazing or pasture management really help as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you, yeah. But I find if you, when you take off the sheet, off somewhere, just try not to put them back on for the 14 days. Yeah. And then if you foot bath, put them back on, how they always, and then foot bath, and then move, those are the new, you know, they kind of, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit like a bit like the warming, you know, put them back on the dirty paddock and then move them to the clean. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Love it. Game changer. You heard it here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Armored hoof sure. And I do like that aluminium spray, that sort of silver animal. Yeah. I like it too. We're going to see. Yeah. Yeah. And we use off, completely off label, but we use a pink eye spray,

22:56the, the tear of my scent, which actually has an antibiotic in it. You just do need to be aware that it is an antibiotic that you're using, which might have withholding period. But yeah, there's a pink eye spray itself. I think it's blue, maybe blue color. Oh. I'm not can. Yeah. I love all of icing. All of my. That's it. That's it. Same thing. All of my. Yeah. That's what I use for, for, for, for, for the thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can use it. It is. I was feeding. I was feeding some, some non reputable hay that I had made in someone's backyard. And yes, I have a lot of that. So a lot of rubbish in the, in us, you know, when the, when the yo's come in first, what's on it, it's really this thick and hay, because it was in the pen. So the whole pen, the sheet is first sheep, and then I'll take it up with this mad cap stuff, which was really nice. Hey, but this was a lot of rubbish in clever rushes and salt, sorts of on the side of the, the sheep loved us just to give them all the sorrows. Hey. Oh, good.

23:59Do you have to just spray all the ice? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's what you need, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Everything else. The tough thing with that. Just let them all back out again. So the hunter was going to be and spray, spray, spray, spray, spray, spray, I have to clear care though. I didn't have any major problems. Yeah. Great stuff. Thank you, Andrew. That's some really good research. And, you know, love that. And yeah, so Google, who sure if anyone wants to see if it's available in your jurisdiction, or in contact company as well, is a wrap or is a wrap for off the neck of the woods. Cool. Love it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the sheep show podcast. We love sharing these conversations and tips with you. If you found today helpful, inspiring, or even just good company while you work the flop, or drove around, make sure to follow or subscribe whenever you listen.

25:03And we'd love to hear from you. Your wins, your questions, your sheep stories. You can connect with us at geel at holstonvalleyform.com.au. Until next time, keep your lambs thriving. Your youth content and your shepherding spurts high. See you in the next sheep show podcast.