cracked hooves

[Anonymous]

Okay let me rephrase the previous post titled "split hooves". We have a cow who has cracks on the outer halves of both front hooves. Does anyone have any information about this?? Thanks!

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[Anonymous]

I will attempt to share my opinion and experience. I live in Texas in sandy country and we occasionally have this unfortunate problem with cows, rarely bulls, but it can happen to males. We don't observe this on rocky rangeland as much and this condition is referred to as "sand cracks." This can be a nutritional problem, can be genetic, can be due to age or weight of animal and associated with nutrition. With nutrition the animal may be in excellent physical condition. The hoof may not be of the structure/quality to support excessive weight of a large animal. Some think cracking may be a result of poor circulation to the hoof. If lame and antibiotics will not help coupled with external disinfectants, we always observe the withdrawal period and ship the animal. Causes of cracks may vary in different parts of the country.

Okay let me rephrase the previous
> post titled "split
> hooves". We have a cow who
> has cracks on the outer halves of
> both front hooves. Does anyone
> have any information about this??
> Thanks!



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[Anonymous]

I had two cows that I dealt with sand cracks on. Both cows had really fast growing hooves.( shouldn't be from lack of circulation) Both had shown signs of lameness when the hoof needed trimming. By trimming and nipping the toe back will cause the foot to break over faster without putting as much pressure on the outer wall. Their is a noticeable improvement right away. While I'm at it I squirt a little topical fungicide in the crack. Copper or Zinc sulfate works. Just my two cents, for what it's worth.

Rod