Trimming Hooves on Cattle

[cornstalk]

Hey everyone.

I discovered the problem with my "foundered" heifer. She wasn't foundered at all, it seems that her back hooves are an inch or two longer than they should be. As the ground has frozen, and the dirt lot has become "less forgiving" she has been a little stiff to walk.

I have an old fashioned hoof trimmer, can I use this? Any advice? I'm most worried about getting her to stand in the chute/headgate while I trim them.

Thanks

 

[dun]

Hoof trimming if you don't know what you're doing is best left to your vet or a someone with experience. Unless they are trained from a calf, getting them to stand is pretty tough. You can tie it up but it's stilla pretty tough job without experience.

dun

 

[cattle_gal]

No don't try it with just normal nippers. Some vets or farriers have a portable chute that lays on it's side. That way they know how much to cut off when they examine the sole. They can get out a pair of long handled bigger nippers or a grinder and cut off the growth and have a 45-50 degree angle on the hoof. Or a 2:1 ratio of toe to heel.

 

[Dee]

If it's not much of a drive I would take her to a vet so they can tip her and get a good look at what is going on...infections, cracks, etc..... It will get worse with the cold/mud weather, so sooner would be better.

 

[TxCoUnTrYbOy]

If its show cattle, definately get someone experienced. For mine I had to drive 150 miles to get the hooves trimmed. Gotta pay to get the best there is. The thing I am curious about is if you trim them differently for different breeds?

 

[CattleAnnie]

Just had the folks out that trim cattle hooves yesterday. Now there's ingenuity if you ever saw it!

They've got a hydraulic tilt table that's on an axle and can be hauled behind their pickup from ranch to ranch. Husband and wife team, and takes them less than ten minutes a head. They back up the trailer/table, crank it down onto the ground, run an animal into it, hook up the belly and chest bands and jiffy presto - the hydraulics kick in and the animal is tilted onto it's side. Wife takes four short ropes and secures the legs to the frame for the pedicure and while Hubby is trimming the top side set of hooves, Wife is trimming the bottom. Pretty slick! When the job is done, the legs are untied, table set back upright, front gate opened and onto the next animal they go.

They use the long handled nippers to roughly shape each claw and knock the tips off the toes, then (thanks to our portable generator, as we've no power at either the barn or the working corrals) they use a grinder to fine tune the claw shape and edge out the sandcracks.

Sure did a nice job again on our bulls and the one cow I've got with bad feet (yeah, I know I should send her down the road, but aside from the feet...and the fact that there's no salvage value in culls...well, she's a good producer and is staying for another year).

It's sure a good investment getting your stock trimmed up like that. Especially the bulls. If they can't travel comfortably it sure can affect their ability to cover the cows effectively.

Last time they were out was that infamous day in May when that lone case of Canadian BSE was announced. Was glad to see that this time there was no coincidental bad news accompaning the trimmers.

Take care.

 

[sonny]

No, I would have a professional come out with a tilt table and do the job. Additionally what I have found is that the excessive growth in the hoofs are either a result of foundering that happened back in the summer (possibly from eating too much Legumes), or it is genetic. If you have other cattle whose feet have became overgrown it might be an indication that you need to control the volume of legumes in you pasture or provide some hay during the spring and summer months to help fill them up so they do not consume too much of the fresh grass. However, if this is an isolated case or this animal appears to be much worst than others, then it is probably genetic and if it were me she would go to the feedlot and I would replace her with another breed or bloodline that is not as Genetically disposed to having hoof problems. I can not tolerate spending the extra expense and time dealing with problems, so those are culled out in my herd.
Just some thoughts.