Pedicures for Everyone!

Since the monsoon season started last month, I can't even begin to think about getting in the garden to plant the fall seedlings I've been nurturing on the back patio.  There are other things on the list; however, and one of those things is checking on the goat's hooves.  That seems like an odd thing to have on a list of things to do, but it is necessary.

I can remember when I was in junior high school I showed sheep as a 4-H project.  Sheep are notorious for getting sick, lame, and other ailments. Sheep get hoof rot very easy and it seems like it happens overnight - one day they are fine and the next they are limping and require a good trimming. Goats are no different.

I got Annie and her two girls, Darla and Jane and brought them into the barn. Then I went to the pasture that we have placed the bull, Chuck, and the buckling, Buckwheat, and I brought Buckwheat in as well.  I put the goats in our little goat milking stanchion that I built and described the process in
THIS POST.  I put a little feed in the trough for them to eat on to distract them while I work on their hooves and close the head gate of the stanchion to stabilize them.

I lift up each of their feet and inspect the hooves.  One thing I immediately noticed is that the hooves had grown a little uneven and need to be evened out.  What will happen is the outside of the hoof will grow just a little long and a little 'flap' will create a pocket in which dirt, poop, and mud accumulates. This pocket stays moist and is a breeding ground for bacteria. In fact, if it is bad enough you can smell a putrid smell.

You simply trim the overgrown part of the hoof so that the hoof is straight and even, leaving no place for mud and water and the resulting bacteria to accumulate and fester.  Then I use my goat hoof clippers that I sharpened with a file to trim the pad of the hoof since that will grow uneven.  Sometimes in cleaning up the hoof, they will bleed.  I'm sure it hurts like a hangnail does, but it is necessary to get the job done.  They might limp on the affected hoof for a day, but in no time they are doing just fine.

Now you would think that this would only occur in months where there is abundant rainfall and their feet stay muddy, but it happens in dry weather too.  One thing that helps is to have cement (like concrete culverts) for the goats to climb on as this is a way for the goats to trim their hooves naturally just by climbing on it.

I always use Dr. Naylor Hoof 'n Heel to coat the area that I've clipped to stave off infection in the goat's hooves. Sometimes the goats will kick hard and cause my hand to slip and nick myself with the clippers.  In that case I put a little Hoof 'n Heel on my cut to fend off infection, too. It is not labeled for use on humans, so I hope it is okay.  Come to think of it, maybe it is Hoof  'n Heel that has made me ornery as an old goat!

I did the same thing to all four goats and in no time I was done.  It is not a bad job, but I'm not the one getting the pedicure.  I'll check up on them later and do it all over again in another month.  I wish trimming the cows' hooves was as easy.

Diagnosing Rosie's Hoof Problem

The first five months of this year proved to be very wet for us with above-average rainfall, even by South Louisiana standards.  While wreaking havoc on our garden, the animals suffered as well in mud and pasture conditions that were more suitable for frogs, ducks, and alligators than for livestock. I can remember hearing about a condition that soldiers in Viet Nam suffered from called 'Jungle Rot.' It was caused by soldiers walking through swampy, tropical areas and not changing their socks. This allowed bacteria to flourish and caused severe pain and difficulty to their feet.

Believe it or not, it's not just soldiers that suffer from this condition.  Our cows got a similar condition due to the wet environment.  In livestock it is called Foot Rot.  A bacteria called Fusobacterium necrophorum lives especially in the mud around hay rings and attacks the animal's hooves, or more specifically, the soft tissue between the toes.  It becomes red, swollen, and causes some necrosis.  It is not pleasant.  You can smell it.  There's a reason it is called foot rot.

Rosie contracted this due to the environmental conditions and was in pain, limping around all day back in late April.  As a result, she wasn't able to get around good to eat grass - grass she needed to develop the calf in her belly.  Although we don't like to give our cows antibiotics since we drink the milk, we had dried off Rosie two months in advance of her due date (June 18th), and there was no risk in giving her medicine that could be transferred to us in the milk.  We gave her a dose of a broad spectrum antibiotic called LA300 and in a few days, she was perfectly fine.

Well, guess what?  Now the ground has pretty much dried up and we notice that Rosie is limping again on her front hoof.  There is no smell and there is no sign of necrotic tissue or swelling. It is not foot rot.  She walks around gingerly, eating a bit and then sitting down.  Not good, especially with a baby coming soon.

My feet hurt!

So what is it?  Tricia fired up the "Google machine" and discovered what Rosie's ailment is: Laminitis.  Laminitis is a metabolic disorder of the hooves that affects about 80% of dairy cows.  It is triggered by the calving process, occurring 7-10 days before calving and continuing 7-10 days after calving.  Hormonal and nutritional changes are prevalent around calving time and Rosie has always been more susceptible to this type of thing - whether laminitis or ketosis.  We really have to watch her. She's fat right now and in great condition for calving, but she tends to be susceptible to odd things like this.

Fat as a pig!

The primary thing that you can do to prevent laminitis is trimming.  They recommend trimming 3 times a year.  This is easier said than done.  These animals are relatively small compared with other cows, but still weigh between 800 - 900 pounds.  They don't like you to mess with their hooves.  May I mention that trying to lift and trim their back hooves is not safe and invokes kicks that could leave you hurt or dead.

Our local Cattlemen's Association has a stall on wheels, hydraulically powered that, once the animal's feet are bound, will tilt sideways, allows you to trim the hoofs safely.  We have called a gentleman to come do this service for us several years ago.  This is not recommended for pregnant animals, though, so you must schedule around their pregnancies.  Here's a picture of this contraption I found on the Internet:

Image Credit

Without being able to use that device, I tied Rosie to a pecan tree and lifted both of her front feet (I'm not going near her back feet - those are the business end of the cow, trust me!) and using clippers, I've been able to trim both front hooves a bit, but she still needed more trimming to take off the excess hoof causing her pain. Over the past week, we've resorted to trying to sneak up on them while they were sitting down and quickly snip off a piece here and a piece there, trying to achieve the cuts shown in the diagram below before they stand up.  They've become leery of us walking in the pasture.  I hide the clippers in my back pocket!

Image Credit

Slowly, but surely, we were able to get the (front) hooves about where they need to be.  The first day after doing this, Rosie was worse!  Then she started to improve and by yesterday, she was barely limping at all.  By the end of December, all three cows will have calved, and then we will try to call out the gentleman to bring the tilting squeeze shoot for a more professional pedicure.  As Old Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!"