hoof care, what do you do?

[Classicironman]

i know a lot think this is just a simple thing but i have learned severl tips that have really helped me keep it under control so i thought maybe if we share a few of our ways it may help someone pick up a few tips.

my first huge tip is if you have a way to set them up a rocky area you can cut your trimming way down! i have areas up top thats just rich dirt so when it rains i got mud real easy. if i have everyone up here seems like im trimming all the time. the area down by the lakei have a lot of rock and even built a little limestone mountianfor them to play on. when they are down there i trim once in a great while except for the few that wont play on the rocks.
i always angle the fronts and edges of their hoolves so objects are pushed away from the center. i dont go this far but kendra uses a dremel sander and buffs out the roll in the hoof and it really helps. most of my girls are scared of it though so i just get them as neat as i can.
after i trim i put thrush treatment on every one of them. this may be considered an over kill but i figure this will kill any thoughs of hoof rot.
another thing to remember if you see signs of rot in the side walls cut the area as high as you can so no mud traps back up in there,using a brush clean that area as good as possible with bleach and then use the thrush treatment it really helps everything grow back nicely.

[prairiewolf]

Good topic, I am actually trimming hooves this week. There is some large sandstone boulders by the road that were unearthed when they worked on the road I would love to get moved into our pasture. I need to call the county and hire someone though. I don't have to trim too often, but the best tip I can give is to not do too many at a time. I used to try and do the whole herd at once or in two days. I have found it is easier on my back and I do a better job by just getting a few trimmed per day until they are all done. I start out with the trimmers and use a small carpenders rasp/plane (the kind that looks like a small rasp not a straight blade) to finish and that levels and finishes their hoof nicely.

[Skippy]

I have a turntable, which helps with the boer goats (and all of the goats), but trimming is still a big job! Outside of nutrition and parasite control, it is high on the scale of necessary evils. I call it a necessary evil because of the backache that normally follows. [biggrin]

I have problems seeing where to trim, seeing how to align the hoof. It drives me bananas! So...the one thing that I do when I trim is to make sure the bottom of the hoof angle is aligned with the hair line at the top of the hoof. If not, you will end up with rocker-live hooves, or hooves too long in the front or the back. Look at the hooves of a very young goat, that is what an adult goat's hooves should look like. The hair line, once the trimming is complete, should be parallel to the ground.

When hooves are very overgrown, do not trim too much off of the back (the heel). Keep more of an alignment of the front the back in mind. And if the hooves are very overgrown, with the "elfin" look, trim just a slight bit and trim again in a week or so. This gives the animal a chance to adjust their gait gradually.

Hoof trimming is very important to how the goat stands, walks, and can affect how their body looks in a conformation sense.

[Classicironman]

you know mary what you said about it affecting how they stand and walk, cassandra was trying to show me some of that when i first got into the boers but thats not an easy thing to comprehend untill you get some practice at it.some i understood but others was like [unsure] as time went on and discussions with others i slowly began to understand more and more.its just a matter of watching the animal and seeing how they walk and act to see how you need to adjust your trimming.

[amo69]

i use my milk stand to trim feet up. i love it, i put them up and lock there little heads down good. and can trim them all pretty quickly. plus give shots all in one go without fighting them. i always blue kote the feet after i am done trimming them.

[Jann]

I live in a sandy area which offers no natural hoof wear so what I do to help naturally keep their hoofs worn in between trims is I set up a bridge inbetween a fence line that the goats have to walk over several times a day to come and go, out to pasture and back in for water etc. On this I tack down asphalt paper, (roofing paper) it acts like very large sand sand paper.
I put enough of an angle on the ramp/bridge that they need to grip it a bit to climb, but not so much to encourage them to want to jump. I dont know how to describe angles/ degrees etc sorry [blushing] but it is sloped just enough to encourage them to just leisurely walk up and over it.
I can change the asphalt paper (roofing paper) as needed when they have worn it out.

I have heard of others setting up a roughed up cement area for this as well, but to me that would mean constant sweeping off, to keep it effective.

When I do trim I just put them in the work stand for now but someday I would love to get a tilt table [pray]

I just do it as a regular routine deal, when ever the goats come through the work chute for sorting or worming etc etc I just grab anyone that needs a trim at the same time.

I have one older doe that must have foundered at some point, she came with bad feet, we do her and keep a check on her more often.

Good explain Mary of what a finished hoof should look like [biggrin]

[Skippy]

Thanks, Jan.

I have 3 or 4 does that came with bad hooves. In fact, one of my saanans had bad hooves, and that is partly why I bought her at a discount. I get saanan milk volume, and deal with the hooves. I have a boer that has bad hooves also. I bought a package deal of 12 does from my girlfriend, all Texas goats, and I didn't realize that one had bad hooves. I could use a Drimmel (sp?) on her alone. Right now I use hand held manual hoof trimmers.

I forgot to add, I plan to gravel the perimeters of my barn in the future. Not only will this assist with hoofs, but it will also help with parasites, espcially the barber pole worm. The goat berries fall onto the gravel, and into the gravel, and the heat of the summer kills off the worm larvae (or eggs), and if they do live, they have nothing to climb up and onto. So, the gravel will serve a dual purpose. When/if I build a second barn, the gravel will be a priority.

[Momsfawn]

Good topic. I am blessed that my John does most of the trimming here. He is really good at it, too. Now, no laughing. I catch the goat and stick its head between my knees (we have Nigerians, not those big ole boers!) and John gets to trimming. Now, if I have to do it on my own I have to use the milking table. Most of our girls will stand politely for a trim ~ we girls like to be pampered, don't we? ~ but they are so short it just kills my back to bend over like that. So, the milking table is a blessing.

We keep a jar of either bleach water or rubbing alcohol handy so we can disinfect the hoof pick and shears after each goat. Dennis, I like your brush idea... will have to try that.

When we first started trimming hooves, we got the booklet from Hoeggar Supply. Great information and was not pricey at all.

[Jamie]

Ade, I have the Hoof Care booklet from Hoegger's and it really helped me. That's how I learned to trim like Mary stated.... keep the angle of the pastern correct.

Rosie's feet were badly splayed when I got her and it took a long time to make her feet look right. I had to trim her outter wall a little bit each time, leaving the inner wall alone until her 'toes' started to pull back together.

I hate hoof trimming! It breaks my back but I learned like Jennifer did to not do it all in one day. I only have seven goats but by the time I catch them, get rid of them when I'm finished and catch the next one I'm flat worn out. If Dicky helps me I can do them all in a day though.

I have a milkstand which is a lifesaver and I couldn't work on my goats without it. I get them in there and give them a little food and then trim away! I start by cutting off the flaps that fold over if they're too long. Then I trim the heel a little at a time IF NEEDED. Then I look for stones or debris that might be trapped and this is when I check for hoof rot.
Then I turn that goat loose and come inside and get a drink of water and sit down! [lol]

[amo69]

ms lacey~gardengoat... she has the coolest thing she trims with, it is a sheet rock plainer. it is just awsome. i was in awww when she showed it to me.

[Skippy]

If you have dairy goats, or happen to have some udder wash on hand, it is good for washing the hooves, or as a step-into quick soak, if you do find hoof rot. It is also good for disinfecting the hoof trimming equipment when you are finished.

[prairiewolf]

Another hint is if the hoof is in good shape (not way overgrown or deformed) if you follow the growth lines in the outside of the hoof (I used to use a wet toothbrush to clean the outside of the hoof so I can see them better, but I have found those little horse hoof picks with the brush on the back side of it work great for cleaning dirt out & cleaning the outside so I can see the lines in one tool) It will help get the right angle and make sure the hoof is level when you trim it. Here is a link for trimming hooves. This is pretty much how we do it here.

http://www.boergoatshome.com/hooves.php

[HappyFeet]

I'm sure for most of you, this type of thing is about as hard to you as breathing, but for a newby like me, I truly appreciate all of this info!
I'm still afraid of not getting their feet perfectly level and correct to their legs, plus I don't want to take off too much wall and make them walk on their soles. I've read a few articles, looked at numerous pictures and feel more confident than I did about it, but I'm still afraid of doing it wrong..

[Skippy]

Heidi, you are wrong!

I am absolutely 100% confident in everything that I do with the goats, for the goats, you name it, but I am insecure as I can be with their hooves. It has not always been my job, now it is, and I am gaining confidence. It just seems to take practice. If you make a mistake you can generally correct it, and sometimes you have to wait to correct it...but for the most part, just take your time and they turn out nice.

[lisa]

yes baby we need a stand [battingeyelashes] [big-grin]