Hoof Trimming
May 7th, 2014 · No Comments · Posted in farming
Animals need pedicures too.
Like human fingernails, hooves are always growing. In nature, hooves wear down on their own. In captivity, they often don’t get enough wear and grow too long. We take care of the sheep and goats with a pair of shears. When it comes to cows, however, we call a professional.
Our Jersey heifer’s hooves had gotten long and gnarly since we bought her nearly a year ago. We contacted Rod Hawkins, who travels the area trimming hooves in herds of dairy cattle. But he can’t work in winter when his equipment freezes. So we had to wait till yesterday, when he happened to be working on other cows in our neighborhood.
Rod travels with an apparatus that looks like a batting cage on wheels. We lead our cow, Emily, into the cage where a pair of straps lifts her off the floor. Rod fastens other straps to her legs, stretching and immobilizing them so he can work on the hooves.
He uses an electric grinding wheel as well as a heavy-duty pair of snippers.
Emily struggles. The cage is built for bigger cows–Rod mostly works on Holstein dairy cattle–so keeping Emily in the right position isn’t easy. I have to hold tight onto her rope halter to prevent her from yanking her head backwards through those vertical bars.
It takes Rod about 30 minutes to trim all four hooves. We back Emily out of the cage and examine the results. Her feet are looking gorgeous again, don’t you think?
Overgrown hooves can throw off an animal’s gait and over-stretch their tendons. We’ll be keeping an eye on Emily’s hooves and possibly call Rod back for a tune up before next winter settles in.
Cost for this service: $80. How much do you pay for your pedicure?
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