Bedding or litter may bring and spread disease around your farm.  This risk is increased due to the people, vehicles and equipment needed to transport bedding.

Inadequate bedding adversely affects animal welfare and increases the faecal contamination of the animal environment.  This can lead to the spread of diseases such as Salmonella, Johne's and coccidiosis.

 

Minimising risk

There are steps you can take to protect your animals from these risks.

• Ensure animals have adequate bedding, particularly for newborn animals.
• Buy bedding materials from sources you know and trust.
• Bedding stores should be weatherproof to avoid contamination or soiling prior to use.
• Aim to keep farm cats out of bedding stores to prevent transmission of the parasitic infection Toxoplasmosis which causes abortions in women and in sheep.
• Keep vehicles and equipment used to transport bedding carefully cleaned and disinfected.
• Take care when disposing of bedding from animals in quarantine or isolation.