Hoof shape of 18 month old bull.

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Ky hills

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I will start by saying (admitting) that I am not very knowledgeable about the correct setting of feet and leg shape unless it is to extent that it is glaringly obvious, which we had some of those individual animals. I have been noticing one of my bulls that has usually been at or near the front of the herd when they come up, the last week or so he is now coming in towards the last and sometimes seems to be a bit of an effort to walk in the rough ground. I don't know if I am making something from nothing or if his front hooves are curving into themselves making it painful for him to walk. I have been feeding that group about 2.5-3lbs of feed most days recently, I wouldn't think that he would be foundered from that, since they are just on fescue based pastures.




 
I don't see anything wrong with them, he doesn't look flatfooted.. I've never had a problem when their toes curve toward each other a little bit unless they were flat footed as well

Here's my bull's front hoof
 
Look fine to me. I would keep an eye on him and look for another cause.
 
His feet don't look bad to me either. I don't see anything, blatantly, wrong there.

I guess its possible he may have a stone bruise or two, on the bottoms of his feet, making him be a bit 'tender-footed', but I'm thinking his issue is not related to his feet.
 
So I am the only one seeing something off in the third photo? The toes do turn in but not enough to make him lame. The third photo the foot on the left looks swelled up a bit above the hock and the hoof looks like it may have a split it could be foot rot. Then again my eyes aren't all that good so I might be wrong, maybe some of you can take a closer look it has me thinking I'm seeing things.

Gizmom
 
Gizmom,
I think I see what you are talking about. The coronet band on the foot that is slightly back may have a small amount of swelling in comparison to the other foot. I think you meant to say coronet rather than hock, since the hocks are not visible in the photos. I also see the dark spot on the hoof which could be a crack, although I think it is just a shadow from the dirt on his hoof, or could it be the shadow of a rock caught there? I could not see the crack in the first photo which appears to be the same foot but I do see what may be a very slight swelling on the inside of the coronet band and what looks like a rock that may be stuck between his toes. It is hard to tell from the photo and could easily be just an illusion. The swelling might be a shadow and the rock may be on the ground and between his toes. He does appear to have a bigger gap between his toes than is desirable, but I have seen plenty of much worse feet.
 
I don't know about why he's limping but his hoof looks to have too much curve to he a herd bull. I'll post my bulls hoof later. I have a few cows with their front hoof tips touching and they walk fine. Not crossing just touching. You bulls are not touching so that's good.
 

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