WO1993001763A1

WO1993001763A1 - Method and apparatus for treating the feet of animals

Info

Publication number: WO1993001763A1
Application number: PCT/AU1992/000086
Authority: WO
Inventors: James Thomas Howman
Original assignee: James Thomas Howman
Priority date: 1991-07-16
Filing date: 1992-02-28
Publication date: 1993-02-04

Abstract

A method and apparatus for treating the feet of an animal to prevnt and/or cure foot rot is disclosed which comprises applying a heated solution containing an active ingredient to the feet of the animal. The application of the heated solution is performed by causing the animal to walk through a trough (10) containing the solution so that the solution contacts and is applied to the animal's feet.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING THE FEET OF ANIMALS

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating the feet of animals and in particular to a method and apparatus for treating foot rot in sheep, deer and goats.

Conventionally, foot rot is treated in animals such as sheep by applying a solution of zinc sulphate or other active ingredient to the feet of the animal. This is normally achieved by walking the animal into a bath or trough and standing the animal in the bath or trough so that the animals feet are submerged in the solution.

Whilst this type of treatment is successful it is not 100% successful and additional manual work such as pairing or the like is often required in order to cure or prevent foot rot.

I have found that by heating the solution which is applied to the feet of the animal results are greatly improved over conventional techniques which use a cold or room temperature solution.

The present invention therefore may be said to reside in a method of treating the feet of an animal to prevent and/or cure foot rot comprising the step of applying a heated solution containing an active ingredient to the feet of the animal.

The invention may also be said to reside in an apparatus for treating the feet of an animal to prevent and/or cure foot rot comprising; trough means for containing a solution including an ingredient to treat foot rot, and heating means for heating the solution in the trough.

Preferably the solution is heated to a temperature in a range of 40°C to 50°C and most preferably to about 45 to 50°C.

Preferably the active ingredient in the solution comprises zinc sulphate. However, the invention could be used with solutions including other active ingredients for treating foot rot. Preferably the invention also includes the step of treating the feet of the animal with a cooled or ambient temperature solution after the treatment with the heated solution.

Preferably the heating means comprises an outlet conduit leading from the trough means to a gas burner and a pipe extending from the gas burner into the trough means and having a plurality of openings through which heated solution can pass, and wherein the solution is circulated through the conduit, gas burner and pipe by a pump. in another embodiment, the heating means could comprise electrical heating elements arranged beneath, beside or in the trough means.

Preferably the trough means includes a channel section of relatively narrow width for containing the solution so only a small surface area of the solution is exposed to atmosphere to reduce heat loss from the solution in the trough. A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;

Figure 1 is side view showing an apparatus for practicing the method, Figure 2 is cross-sectional view along the line

Il-ll of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a detailed partial plan view along the line III-III of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 shows a second embodiment of the invention.

The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a trough or bath 10 which sits on or slightly above ground level so that it can be easily stepped into and walked through by an animal such as a sheep. The trough 10 preferably comprises a bath section 14 which has a narrow channel section 16 of width approximately 125 mm and height of approximately 125 mm. The channel section 16 has two inclined side walls 18 which terminate at about ground level. Splash guards 20 are attached to the side walls 18 to generally guide sheep as they walk through the trough 10 and to prevent splashing of solution out of the trough 10.

The channel section 16 includes a grid 22 upon which the sheep walk and the channel section 16 contains a solution 30 having an active ingredient such as zinc sulphate for treating foot rot.

Beneath the grid 22 is a circulation pipe 40 which extends along substantially all of the length of the channel 16. The pipe 40 passes through a heater 44 and is coupled to a pump 46. The pump 46 is also coupled to the trough 10 by a conduit 48 so that solution can be pump from the trough 16 through the conduit 48, pump 46, heater 44 conduit 42 and into the pipe 40. The heated solution is supplied to the channel section 16 through openings 42 in the pipe 40.

The heater 44 may be a gas fired heater and the conduit 42 may be coiled in heater 44 so that the solution passing through the coil portion of the conduit 42 in the heater 44 is heated by the heat generated by a gas burner in the heater 44. Thus, as solution is circulated through the conduit 48, 42 and pipe 40 it is heated by the heater 44 so that heated solution passes from the pipe 40 into the channel 16 to thereby provide a heated solution in the channel 16.

As the sheep enter the trough and stand in the trough 10 on the grid 22 their feet are submerged in the solution 30 and the heated solution 30 treats their feet for foot rot. The heated solution softens the feet of the animal so that the solution can easily penetrate the animals feet and in particular the horn of the animals feet to treat the foot rot.

Softening of the horn by the heated solution and the fact that the solution is therefore penetrating the horn of the animals foot ensures a much more effective treatment than conventional cold treatments.

The fact the solution does adequately penetrate the horn of the animals foot also means that pairing could be avoided since the foot rot will be more effectively treated according to the method of the preferred embodiment of this invention.

In alternative embodiments of the invention (not shown) instead of using a gas type heater the solution in the channel 16 could be heated by electric coils or the like arranged beneath the channel 16 thereby doing away with the need to provide the conduits and pipes and a pump.

The provision of a relatively narrow channel section 16 decreases the surface area of the solution 30 in the channel 16 and therefore the amount of cooling. Thus, the heated solution 16 is therefore maintained in a heated state with minimal loss of heat from the solution to the atmosphere. The narrow trough section 16 has been found to be adequate for sheep since they normally stand with their feet close together and can comfortably walk along the channel 16 with their bodies being accommodated in the wider inclined sides 18 and splash panels 20. A second embodiment of the invention is described with reference to Figure 4 which shows trough 10 identical to the trough shown in Figure 1. The trough 10 is immediately followed by a second trough 60 which is identical to the trough 10 except that it is intended to cool the solution rather than heat it. In this embodiment the trough 60 is provided with a cooler 62 and the pump 46 circulates the solution through the conduit 48 into the cooler 62 where it is cooled and supplied to the channel 16. Alternatively the temperature of the solution could be ambient temperature rather than cooled. Thus, in this embodiment the animals after being treated by heated solution walk through the trough 60 having cooled solution or ambient temperature solution which has also been found to improve the effectiveness of the foot rot treatment to sheep.

Since modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention may readily be effected by persons skilled within the art, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described by way of example hereinabove.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of treating the feet of an animal to prevent and/or cure foot rot comprising the step of applying a heated solution containing an active ingredient to the feet of the animal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the heated solution is applied by causing the animal to walk through a bath of the heated solution.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the solution is heated to a temperature in a range of 40°C to 50°C and most preferably to about 45 to 50°C.

4. The method of claims 1, 2 or 3 wherein the active ingredient in the solution comprises zinc sulphate.

5. The method of any one of the preceding claims including the step of treating the feet of the animal with a cooled or ambient temperature solution after the treatment with the heated solution.

6. An apparatus for treating the feet of an animal to prevent and/or cure foot rot comprising; trough means for containing a solution including an ingredient to treat foot rot, and heating means for heating the solution in the trough.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the heating means comprises an outlet conduit leading from the trough means to a gas burner and a pipe extending from the gas burner into the trough means and having a plurality of openings through which heated solution can pass, and wherein the solution is circulated through the conduit, gas burner and pipe by a pump.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the heating means comprises electrical heating elements arranged beneath, beside or in the trough means.

9. The apparatus of claims 6, 7 or 8 wherein the trough means includes a channel section of relatively narrow width for containing the solution so only a small surface area of the solution is exposed to atmosphere to reduce heat loss from the solution in the trough.