The terms and conditions of the National Sheep Welfare Scheme have been revised to allow the use of copper and zinc sulphate. \ Claire Nash
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I have been at a number of events recently where farmers were unaware that they could now use copper and zinc sulphate in the footbathing action in the 2026 National Sheep Welfare Scheme. This follows both of these products being initially excluded as being eligible to satisfy the scheme terms and conditions when the scheme was launched with only biocidal products permitted.
The terms and conditions have since been revised with the relevant section now reading that “frequent footbathing with biocidal products will help prevent infection spreading between animals and reduce lameness, while footbathing with other substances such as copper sulphate/zinc sulphate may be used to improve overall hoof health to help reduce lameness”.
The terms and conditions expand on the above statement and add that the “biocidal products are used for the control of harmful organisms to keep hooves healthy and prevent infection spreading between animals.
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“Where the primary purpose of the footbath is to control harmful organisms and prevent infection spreading, it must contain an appropriate registered biocidal product. If, however, the only purpose of the footbath is to improve overall hoof health and help reduce lameness, then other industrial chemicals such as copper sulphate or zinc sulphate can be used in the footbath”.
Footbathing must be carried out a minimum of twice over the period from 1 April 2026 to 13 October 2026 or 24 November 2026 where that was chosen at application stage.
There must be a minimum of two weeks between the footbathing events.
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I have been at a number of events recently where farmers were unaware that they could now use copper and zinc sulphate in the footbathing action in the 2026 National Sheep Welfare Scheme. This follows both of these products being initially excluded as being eligible to satisfy the scheme terms and conditions when the scheme was launched with only biocidal products permitted.
The terms and conditions have since been revised with the relevant section now reading that “frequent footbathing with biocidal products will help prevent infection spreading between animals and reduce lameness, while footbathing with other substances such as copper sulphate/zinc sulphate may be used to improve overall hoof health to help reduce lameness”.
The terms and conditions expand on the above statement and add that the “biocidal products are used for the control of harmful organisms to keep hooves healthy and prevent infection spreading between animals.
“Where the primary purpose of the footbath is to control harmful organisms and prevent infection spreading, it must contain an appropriate registered biocidal product. If, however, the only purpose of the footbath is to improve overall hoof health and help reduce lameness, then other industrial chemicals such as copper sulphate or zinc sulphate can be used in the footbath”.
Footbathing must be carried out a minimum of twice over the period from 1 April 2026 to 13 October 2026 or 24 November 2026 where that was chosen at application stage.
There must be a minimum of two weeks between the footbathing events.
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