GUM BOOTS FOR SHEEP

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21938, 12 November 1936, Page 7

GUM BOOTS FOR SHEEP

PREVENTING AND CURING FOOTROT HIGHER PRICES FOR ENGLISH SHOES * (raojf oi'B .owk correspondent.) LONDON, October 7. Gum boots for sheep were Included among the latest styles at the Shoe and Leather Fair at Islington this week. They are not for novelty, but for curing and preventing foot-rot They are the outcome of two years’ patient work by English veterinary surgeons to check the loss of £500,000 caused to the British farmers annually by this disease. With the aid of these rubber boots it is claimed that foot-rot can be cured and prevented. , ' , The virtue of these rubber boots m that the dressings applied to the affected parts of the feet can be kept intact, so that there is permanent contact between the remedies applied and ■ the infection. This is. not always possible for more than short periods when other methods are used. Experiments have shown that if the boots are applied early to all cases, infection is abolished. . Naturally, when the sheep are wearing the boot* they are not spreading contagious diseases for the infection of the remaining sheep in the flock. The boots are neatly made of rubber, with a strong stockinette lining. They are in five sizes, and three colours—black, grey, and green. There are also two designs. One has a “zip. ’ or lightning fastener, attached to the front of the boot, and the other has a clip and a strap, which “does up” at the back. These latter are the cheaper, 2s lid, and those ■with the “zip” fasteners cost 3s 6d. As sheep’s feet do not vary much within the same breeds for reasonably* similar ages, the boots can be used on various sheep after they have been cleansed and disinfected. The makers claim that they are waterproof, pliable and acid-resisting; nor are they damaged by the chemicals used for dressing. The boots are so moulded as to provide an anatomical fit, allowing free play of the fetlock joint and eliminating rubbing or chaffing. The close fit at the top prevents splashing of the remedies on to the wool, and the bag at the back allows full freedom for the “knuckles”. The sole is of stout construction and cushions the tread, and the shape of the boots prevents slipipng or twisting. Coronation Fashions New fashions for women are influenced by the approaching coronation. Those who wish to show their patriotism and enthusiasm in their footwear may sport the Royal colours, and red and blue predominate. Some even are made of red, white, and blue leather, with a small flag Upon the toe cap. These are striking, to say the least. For men’s street wear there is no alteration from the regulation black or brown, but ia their homes men may unbend and escape from convention by wearing coloured slippers with the letters E.R. stamped upon them. One of the few less attractive forecasts from the fair is that shoes are to be dearer. This is a repercussion of the fall in the world consumption of hides between 1929 and 1933 of 10,000,000. Because of this smaller demand, slaughtering establishments placing their bides on the market had . to accept lower prices, one-third of those of four years earlier. Two-thirds of the prices of leather is determined by the price of hide, and with the cost of raw material down, boot and shoe manufacturers were able to produce their goods considerably cheaper. Retailers’ prices in turn were reduced. With the return to prosperity the demand for hides has increased, and leather has become proportionately dearer, rising as much as 40 per cent in two years. This fact was referred to hr Mr J. * Osborne Martin, president of the Shoe and Leather Fat? Society, ime opening of the fair. Shoes selling for 17s. for instance, to-day, not of the same high qtaßtyttuitt - shoes sold a year or so agd "at the' same price. The increasing use of robber In' footwear was also greatly in evidence at the fair. Rubber can now be so skilfully “disguised” that it may Be 1 taken, at first fight to* aamrteafil(•£-