Pre-bath or no pre-bath – that is the question.

I used to think that a pre-bath, filled with plain water, was a useful tool in foot bathing - not because it helps clean the feet (I believe its useless for this), but because it primarily acts as a cow toilet. We’ve all seen it – upon leaving the parlor, the cow lifts her tail and well – you know - in the first body of water that she comes to. Logic would dictate that if the cows deposited manure in the pre-bath, the chemical bath would take less of a “hit.”

Several small field trials I conducted confirmed that the chemical baths remained effective longer if a pre-bath was located 6 – 9 feet before the chemical bath. If the pre-bath was located adjacent to the chemical bath, there was little to no benefit for extending the life of the chemical bath. The cow usually was not done “taking care of business” in the pre-bath before she entered the treated bath – so both baths were affected. In addition to the “direct deposit” method of contamination, the chemical bath is negatively impacted by dirty, un-treated water being dragged in from the pre-bath.

I am now questioning the use of pre-baths at all. As I see it, the main problem with a pre-bath is how quickly it is contaminated thus becoming a possible means of spreading the bacteria associated with foot lesions. Does walking the cow through a dirty pre-bath (slurry) actually increase the bacterial loading on the hoof skin prior to exposing it to the anti-bacterial agent of the treated bath? I don’t have an answer for this – but it seems possible.

Some experts have suggested putting soap or detergent in the pre-bath for the purpose of loosening the dirt and manure on the feet. Far be it from me to contradict those with PhD’s – but I am not convinced. Its not like we are talking about walking the cows through a whirlpool bath here. Even getting a spot out of a shirt requires some water agitation in addition to the detergent. While adding soap to the pre-bath may be a useful practice for very small herds these materials break down pretty quickly in heavy organic matter. In addition, most soaps and detergents have a higher than neutral pH. If consistently splashed into an acid based chemical bath, soaps will reduce the bath’s level of effectiveness. I also question whether soap/detergents make the bath and exit area surfaces too slippery.

Bottom line: If you have built in pre-baths, I suggest you consider leaving them empty. If you have to change the footbath during milking – rinse out the pre bath as well – then leave it empty. Don’t neglect hosing the entrance and exit areas of the footbaths.

If your footbaths and pre-baths are adjacent to each other, and each holds less than 50 gallons of water, you could consider putting chemical in both. This would effectively create a longer footbath and increase the chemical contact time. While more expensive to set up – this method may get more cows through an effective footbath.

When your footbath chemical is depleted it is important to do one of three things: 1) change the footbath 2) clean it out and leave it dry, or 3) gate around it. Avoid having the cows walk through an exhausted bath full of manure slurry, as this may due more harm than good in the fight against footwarts.