Equipment sanitation
Employee sanitation
Farm traffic, animal transport, and sanitation

Equipment sanitation

• Clean and disinfect any equipment used on sick animals prior to use on healthy herd mates.
• Clean and disinfect dehorners, hoof knives, and clippers between animals.
• Use your own halters and clippers rather than borrowing them.
• Sanitize nursing bottles and buckets after each feeding.

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Employee sanitation

Photo: Julie Smith, DVM, Ph.D

• Wash farm clothing with detergents and bleach or washing soda. Provide on-farm laundry facilities for employees.
• Insist workers wash their hands before milking dairy animals and after working with sick animals. Nitrile gloves are recommended when frequent cleaning between animals is necessary.
• Insist workers wear protective plastic or rubber gloves when assisting with births.

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Farm traffic, animal transport, and sanitation

• Keep visitor and service vehicles from driving over feed delivery or manure handling routes.
• Keep visiting vehicles out of areas accessible to livestock.
• Locate holding pens for animal pickups near the road and away from the barns or livestock areas.
• Use only clean, well-bedded trucks to move livestock to avoid introducing diseases and to avoid injuries during transport.
• Thoroughly wash and disinfect the inside, outside, and tires of livestock-hauling trucks or other implements of husbandry shared with neighbors.

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