More Bacteria in Spring: A Complete Guide to Disinfection Methods for Sheep Barns

In spring, all things revive and plants begin a new round of budding and growth, but rising temperatures also make it easier for bacteria to breed, which is a problem worth paying attention to for farmers. So, with more bacteria in spring, what are the disinfection methods for sheep barns? See the most complete disinfection guide here!

Spring Disinfection Methods for Sheep Barns

1. Entry

A sheep farm should have a disinfection room, with ultraviolet lamps installed on both sides and the ceiling, and a disinfection pool on the floor, using burlap pieces or straw mats soaked in 4% sodium hydroxide solution. Entering personnel must change their shoes, wear dedicated work clothes, and register properly.

A disinfection pool should be set up at the main gate of the sheep barn and frequently sprayed with 4% sodium hydroxide solution or 3% peracetic acid, etc. The disinfection method is to put the disinfectant in a sprayer, spray the ceiling, walls, and floor, then open the doors and windows for ventilation, and scrub the feed troughs and tools with clean water to remove the smell of the disinfectant. If the sheep barn is sealed, and there are no sheep inside, the doors and windows can be closed and formalin fumigation used for disinfection for 12 hours to 24 hours, then the windows opened for ventilation for 24 hours. The amount of formalin used is 25 ml to 50 ml per cubic meter of space, with an equal amount of water added, and heated to evaporate.

Under normal circumstances, sheep barns are disinfected once a week, with 2 additional major disinfections each year. For the delivery room, disinfection is carried out once before lambing, multiple times during the peak of lambing, and once more after lambing is finished. At the entrances and exits of sick sheep barns and isolation barns, burlap pieces or straw mats soaked in 4% sodium hydroxide solution should be placed to prevent the spread of pathogens.

2. Ground

For soil surfaces, 10% bleaching powder solution, 4% formalin, or 10% sodium hydroxide solution can be used. Sites where sheep carcasses that died from infectious diseases caused by spore-forming bacilli (such as anthrax) have been kept should be strictly disinfected. First, spray the ground with the above-mentioned bleaching powder solution, then dig up the surface soil to a depth of about 30 cm, sprinkle dry bleaching powder and mix it with the soil, and properly transport this surface soil out for burial.

3. Manure

There are many methods for disinfecting sheep manure. The most practical method is biological heat disinfection, that is, setting up a manure yard 100 m to 200 m away from the sheep farm, piling up the sheep manure, spraying a small amount of water, covering it tightly with wet mud, and stacking it for fermentation for more than 30 days, after which it can be used as fertilizer.

4. Sewage

The most commonly used method is to lead the sewage into a treatment pool and add chemicals (such as bleaching powder or other chlorine preparations) for disinfection. The amount used depends on the volume of sewage; generally, 2 g to 5 g of bleaching powder is used per 1 liter of sewage.

In spring, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and there may still be cold spells. Artificially penned sheep lack activity, and their resistance declines accordingly. This is truly a period when disease outbreaks occur. Farmers should prepare in advance, and disinfection work must not be neglected, so as to avoid greater losses.