# Hoof are in really bad shape.



## crazy4cochins (May 23, 2009)

Hi everyone I am soon to be a goat farmer myself,they are next door untill I can build the goat house. I have been getting aquainted with them and take care of them on weekends.
Ok problem is billy's hooves are in shambles.
They look like all splayed out and are sooo overgrown
No wonder he walks funny,Arrgggg 
The lady that has them said she didn't know what the matter was with his hind end,LOOK AT HIS FEET!!!
Anyways I am needing to know How to fix his feet,poor billy can barely walk.
Do the cuticles grow out long in a hoof like dog cuticles do?
Should I just take him to the vet to have his feet clipped.
He needs serious help and I am not a seasoned gaot farmer yet
2.Do I need to get something to clean them? 
 3. Can i use trimmers like gardening trimmers?they are little and like springer loaded so they don't open to wide? I don't know how to explain it I guess...
How can I do it,should i tie him to something and lift his foot back and up ,thats how I trim our big dogs nails. Please help 
I feel so bad for him


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## freemotion (May 23, 2009)

I have the same situation with my rescued dairy goat.  Do you have a milking stand?  It is easier to do if they are trained to the stand, and you can put some treats in the box to keep them happy and make them look forward to it.

My girl's feet sound just like your boy's.  She was in bad shape in many ways, so I decided to take a gradual approach, and have been trimming a little off once or twice a week.  Part of the reason for this is my own nervousness about taking too much off, and not wanting to stress her too much with a long, tedious job by a novice like me.  

There are some great tutorials on youtube and if you do a google search there are some really good articles out there.  You ultimately want the bottom of the hoof to be parallel to the coronary band (the line where the hoof meets the hair.)  My girl's feet are now one trim away from perfection, I think, and tomorrow is the day!

I use a pair of tin snips, I broke my rose shears but will finally get some goat hoof trimmers soon.  Proper tool for the job, and all that.

First trim any flaps you see, after scraping dirt out of the way.  Don't lift the foot too high or pull it too far out to the side.  If someone forced your body into a gymnastic split, you would resist, too!  Hold firmly and use your leg to support the foot and prevent him from pulling it away.  It will be easier the first few times if you have someone to hold and restrain him, unless you find he knows the drill and has just been neglected.  Talk sweetly, reassure him, and give him treats when he behaves even for a moment.  Take your time, as you will be doing this often for the rest of his life, so you want him to ultimately cooperate and stand nicely.  This will take a lot of time now, the first few times, to get him to trust you and be calm.  Prey animals get very frightened if their ability to flee is taken from them, by restraining their head and feet.

Well, I am sure someone more experienced than me will chime in here, too.


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## pattyjean73 (May 23, 2009)

I'm in the learning process too.  Trimming hooves really has me nervous.  I will probably see if I can find a local goat herder around here come out and show me how to do it the first time. 

I took a look at Billy's feet and his appear to be pretty good.  Of course he is only 2.5 months old.  I still yet have to look at the others. 

I had wondered.  Are there any tricks of the trade that'll help wear their hooves down naturally to make hoof trimming less frequent?  I read somewhere that if they're on rocky pasture their hooves wouldn't need so much trimming.  Could I line their shelter floor with gravel and put hay over the top of it? Good idea/bad idea?


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## freemotion (May 23, 2009)

Pattyjean, I don't think inside the shelter is the answer, because you want them to be comfortable when they sleep and settle in for a cud-chew.  Rocky paddocks and even things like cinder blocks are supposed to help.  However, my paddock is very rocky and I have cinder blocks, but it hasn't done a thing for the dairy goat's feet, as she doesn't jump and play as much as the others.

I was very nervous about it, too, and got encouragement from others on the sister forum, ss, and also realized as I aquire more goats I have to learn to do it myself.  I would have my farrier trim the two pets  pygmies when he came to trim my old mare, he would do the goats a couple times a year and that was fine for them.  They did play a lot with each other and the horse would come and go a lot between the pasture and her stall (open door policy here!) and they were her shadows, so they got lots of excercise when she was alive.  Now they are getting very chunky!

Then after my mare died, I decided to fill her space with a couple more goats, and don't want the continued expense of hiring someone to trim when I can do it myself.  I encourage you to do a bit of research, watch some videos, look at some pictures, and go out and pick up their feet and take a peek at least.  Maybe clean them a bit, and if you then feel brave, trim the flaps that grow over the bottom of the feet.  Once you have done this, you will be even more ready to benefit from an experienced helper.  And you will know if you need to do some training and handling before they come in to help.  

I hope I have made you brave enough to go out there and give it a go!  My doeling is about the same age as your buckling, maybe a couple weeks younger, and I pick up her feet every day during our snuggle time.  I touch her all over, including her little udder and teats.  I touch her eyes, ears, and muzzle, and give her a good scratch in all the places she likes so much (her tushy, mostly!) so she will associate the handling of all her parts with good, relaxed time with me.  She is my first baby that I want to raise to be a dairy goat, so I just use the techniques I used when I raised horses.  The more you handle them when they are very young, the easier life is later.  Also be sure to anticipate any vet care they might need, so handling and restraining all body parts now, keeping it fun, gentle, and enjoyable will go a LOOONG way if the baby ever gets hurt and needs stitches or eye ointment or whatever.

Besides, it's fun!


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## bheila (May 23, 2009)

crazy4cochins said:
			
		

> Hi everyone I am soon to be a goat farmer myself,they are next door untill I can build the goat house. I have been getting aquainted with them and take care of them on weekends.
> Ok problem is billy's hooves are in shambles.
> They look like all splayed out and are sooo overgrown
> No wonder he walks funny,Arrgggg
> ...


I would take the goat to the vet for the first few trimmings. He may have more wrong with him then just overgrown hooves. He could have foot rot too. The vet will help you by telling you what you need to do to help his hooves heal. Besides, he's going to be sore when he gets trimmed. 
I bought a doe who hadn't had her hooves trimmed in 4 years and I didn't know where to start. I was glad I had someone show me how to do it first. Makes sure you buy trimmers for sheep/goat hooves.


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## Chirpy (May 23, 2009)

I agree with bheila that it would be best to have a vet do, at least, the first trim (although you want to have a 'goat' vet do it or one that is experienced him/herself with goats.).   It's actually really easy to trim their feet and I, myself, enjoy it.  Using a milk stand is a huge help for me - I don't have to lean over so far and I can give them a treat to munch on to help keep them occupied for part of the trimming.

Here's what I use - the orange ones - second one down:

http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc...LN4&keywords=hoof trimmers&cmkw=hoof trimmers


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## crazy4cochins (May 25, 2009)

Thanks for all the suggestion, yeah it's good to know I have some new farmers friends to talk too.
Yes I am going to take him to the vet, I have confidence I can trim them later on but his feet are just in shambles now. He can't walk around and will sit alot.
 I have seen lots of plans on building some milking stands so
when i can I will. I know right now there's no way he could make it up one right now. But lets all pray that he can get better.
Now I have got to figure out what breed they are ,keep an eye out  for my pics so my seasoned friends can tell me.


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## freemotion (May 25, 2009)

Oh, he is in REALLY, REALLY bad shape if he sits a lot.  Maybe he foundered.  Yes, I would want a professional to check him out, too.  Let us know how it goes.


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## crazy4cochins (May 25, 2009)

I am going to have to look up foundered, does that mean I have to put him down?
sorry i am so busy lately I have chickens and I have been researching all the stuff for them and haven't gotten into alot of the goat problems yet. The lady just asked me last week if I wanted them so I need to get on this  asap.


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## Griffin's Ark (May 25, 2009)

I too would want a professional to check him out.  The biggest problem with that is the professionals might not have ever seen a goat except  when they went to school.  One thought process would be to find a sheep shearer that trims hooves.  Then when the shearer finds rot, the vet will be able to treat it easier.  You may have a great goat vet though, so until you ask you will never know.  Our vet appeared nervous when we had to take our best stud buck in for a twisted knee.  Let the vet know that you want to learn about the hooves and that you want to watch everything being done.  If the vet screws up they at least have the ability to fix their mistake.

Chris


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## GrassFarmerGalloway (May 25, 2009)

Take a pair of shears, and over the course of a few days, gently shave a little off each hoof at a time, until the hoof is square.  Don't take too much off at once.  I'm not sure if goats have a quick like cats and dogs, but I don't want to find out the hard way.  :/


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## Chirpy (May 25, 2009)

crazy4cochins asked:  





> I am going to have to look up foundered, does that mean I have to put him down?


Almost certainly no.   It would have to be really, really bad with other issues to make it necessary to put him down.    I would certainly have a vet check him out (a goat vet, as mentioned) and make sure it's just his hooves that are the problem.  Then, start slowly and work on getting his hooves into proper shape.  Start by watching a couple of videos on YouTube and then take off as much as you think you can without causing him to bleed.  Then, a week later, take off a little more.  A week or two later - take off a little more until you have his feet corrected.   I've heard some people say it took a couple of months to get a goats foot properly trimmed after severe neglect.

Good luck.


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