# Hoof Trimming, Anyone used Kitchen Shears?



## lupinfarm (Jul 19, 2010)

Has anyone used _kitchen shears_? I need something with a slim blade and I'm having a devil of a time finding anything to work effectively for more than one trimming. The girls are in dire need of a trim but unfortunately I'm having little luck finding anything. The Aviation snips were working for a while but I just can't maneuver well enough with them (and it seems, one day the feet are long but otherwise fine, and the next day they're overgrown... hmm)

I also can't, for the life of me, find any hoof knives. I was thinking the kitchen shears like the serrated ones, they'd be kinda like miniature hoof trimmers.


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## cmjust0 (Jul 19, 2010)

You get to be the first.


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## lupinfarm (Jul 19, 2010)

lol such is always the case. I may have to order a hoof knife in the end, no one seems to carry them. Maybe they think we're going to fillet our goats instead of trim their feet? Mione has ridiculously tiny feet... its basically impossible to get regular hoof trimmers in there!


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## cmjust0 (Jul 19, 2010)

That's why I hate hoof trimmers..  We have a few -- the white-hooved ones -- where trimmers would probably come in handy simply because their hooves are hard as a buck's horn, but otherwise.....hoof knives are the way to go, IMHO.

Get the cheapy ones, though.  They're thin and chintzy and would probably SUCK for horses, but they're teh awsome for goats.  I actually spent like $18 on a "good" hoof knife once, and it is NOT teh awsome for goats..  It actually sucks for goats..  Too thick, not flexible at all, etc.

El cheapo hoof knife-o...$4...TSC...couldn't beat'em with a stick.


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## lupinfarm (Jul 19, 2010)

:/ my tsc doesn't have hoof knives. come to think of it, they don't have hoof trimmers either... i had to get mine from the co-op and bought their one and only pair. seriously. 

i may be able to get my hands on a horse hoof knife, i'm heading out to ottawa this weekend to pick up some ducks and there are a few places i know will carry them.

cissy's hooves are terrible to cut but after the first cut its easier, mione has softer hooves. they're both terrible overgrown, mione's look okay until you pick them up lol but cissy has had overgrown feet, obviously, for years. probably just "kept in check" but she has a long toe which is pretty evident of a little neglect before we got her. oh well, they'll get trimmed this weekend.


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## patandchickens (Jul 19, 2010)

Which kind of kitchen shears do you mean, do you mean the finely-serrated ones where the TV ads used to show them cutting a penny in half? If that is what you mean, let me know and I can try mine (the barn pair, that I use for removing duct-tape poultice boots from horse feet) on the sheepies. 

The little trimming I've done so far, I've used a pair of pruning shears -- not the ones with the big "parrot beak" shape blades, but somewhat smaller and slimmer blades. Dunno what brand, they were a spare pair from my parents' when they moved out of their house.

My farrier keeps telling me a hoof knife is best for sheep feet (tho of course he *would*, since it's what he's most used to using ) -- you can usually get them at a large feedstore or TSC, or can mail order, BUT BE AWARE that the $10 ones are generally totally cr*ppy and not really worthwhile IMO. If you can find a farrier with an old hoof knife he will give you or sell you for cheap, that's the best, or ask where HE buys them (farrier-quality)

Seriously though, if you mean the penny-cutting-in-half shears let me know and I will try them out for you.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## cmjust0 (Jul 19, 2010)

patandchickens said:
			
		

> ...BUT BE AWARE that the $10 ones are generally totally cr*ppy and not really worthwhile IMO. If you can find a farrier with an old hoof knife he will give you or sell you for cheap, that's the best, or ask where HE buys them (farrier-quality)


Disagree x 1000.

The ones I buy are cheap and chintzy and thin and cost $4...and they're _perfect_ for goat feet.


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## lupinfarm (Jul 19, 2010)

Those are exactly the kind Pat! I was thinking of picking up a pair at Home Hardware. Horse hoof knife seems to be the next best thing, but I won't be able to pick one up locally... will have to get one when I'm in Ottawa.


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## patandchickens (Jul 19, 2010)

OK cmjust0, I will certainly bow to your experience with how the cheapie hoof knives are for GOAT feet. For HORSE feet, though, they really are worthless 

I will try my penny-cutting shears on the sheepie feets after dinner, and report back.

Pat


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## Beekissed (Jul 19, 2010)

I use hand pruners for my sheep and this seems to conform to the curves of their hooves.  Works great and I bought them at Family Dollar...so sharp I about cut the end of my thumb off in the process.


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## cmjust0 (Jul 19, 2010)

patandchickens said:
			
		

> OK cmjust0, I will certainly bow to your experience with how the cheapie hoof knives are for GOAT feet. For HORSE feet, though, they really are worthless


Oh, I'm sure they are..  I actually snapped the blade right off one trimming a particularly hard hoof once.  Didn't see that coming, but I'm a little more careful now not to apply a twisting motion to the blade when cutting through a particularly hard hoof..


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## lupinfarm (Jul 19, 2010)

Beekissed said:
			
		

> I use hand pruners for my sheep and this seems to conform to the curves of their hooves.  Works great and I bought them at Family Dollar...so sharp I about cut the end of my thumb off in the process.


I was using Aviation snips, somewhat similar in a way. Unfortunately they're too thick to get particularly close to the actual foot so the girls always end up with a somewhat large "overhang" on their feet.


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## patandchickens (Jul 19, 2010)

Hey Stephy, I tried the cut-a-penny-in-half shears. I dunno. I can't really recommend them much, they were very crude and imprecise and "not-sharp". I mean, they were certainly strong enough, but it was hard to get things trimmed the way I wanted, you know? Maybe it would have been different if I'd have been doing radical pruning-back rather than just a tidy-up type job, but still. I like my pruning shears MUCH better.

Since I had the sheep penned for that, I also wormed them again mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha. I do not think I'm on their Christmas list at the moment. (Oddly, the ram by far the most cooperative one to worm. Good thing considering the size of his horns, but, somehow does not fit with my mental image of rams )

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## lupinfarm (Jul 19, 2010)

lmao, I was met with disgust the other day as well when I went to worm the pygmy's. 

Hmm... Perhaps I'll still give them a try, got nothing to lose really and also pick up a hoof knife to try out as well. If it comes down to it, there is a guy in my area that trims alpaca and goat feet


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## Hollywood Goats (Jul 20, 2010)

I used pruning shears like these:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 20, 2010)

I have sometime similar to these  and love them.  IMO, they work the best for hooves.


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## cmjust0 (Jul 20, 2010)

I'm hesitant to even say this for fear of looking silly, but...well, a knife's a knife, kinda.  Hoof knives are nice because they have the little hook at the end, which is good for digging crud out and so forth...but a knife's still a knife.

Have you tried a pocketknife?  Or an old paring knife, perhaps?  If their hooves aren't hard as buckhorn, something like that should be sufficient.

Sure, you could cut them reeeeeeeeally badly with a blade, but hoof knives are blades too.  No real safety feature on either one.  

I'd say give it a shot...if you don't like trimming with a blade, at least then you'll know not to waste your time looking for a hoof knife.


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## lupinfarm (Jul 20, 2010)

Well I am reeeeaallllyyy good at peeling potatoes with a knife..........

I think I am going to get a hoof knife though since we have absolutely nothing around here. It seems all our household knives went missing over the winter :/ I think my brother was using them to cut hay bales.


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## cmjust0 (Jul 20, 2010)

I'm cutting hay bale strings with an axe right now...  No, that's not a joke.  We kept scissors up in the loft forever, and I always meant to drive a nail in the wall to hang them...but never did.  And now they're gone, buried forever under a very thin pile of hay.

I could probably find them, but yanno...there was the axe, just sitting right there beside the hay stack.  And it worked pretty good.

Plus, axes are much harder to lose.


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## lupinfarm (Jul 20, 2010)

i've been using a bot knife to cut open haybales for a few months. works really well. better as a haybale cutter than as a knife for scraping off bots imo.


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## DaKid (Jul 31, 2010)

Hello , I new here and tring to get all the Infor . I can before getting me a couple of Pygmy goats , 
How many times do you have to trim there hoofs  say per yr. and also can you trim them to far down like dog nail where they bleeded ...... 



Thanks Alan


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## lupinfarm (Jul 31, 2010)

Its pretty easy to see where to trim on a goat, not like a dog which can be difficult. I say trim as needed because everyones terrain is different.



BTW, I found these AWESOME 'hoof rot shears' at TSC. Haven't used them yet, going to tackle the feeties tomorrow (starting with Mione since she is more agreeable) and I'll let you know how they work


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## 4hmama (Jul 31, 2010)

I use Pampered Chef kitchen shears.  They aren't cheap, but they are guaranteed for several years.  Use them and get them replaced (if necessary).  If anyone is interested - go to www.pamperedchef.biz/beckywalton and order.  Questions - let me know and I'll be glad to help you out!


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## Ariel301 (Aug 9, 2010)

My mother in law got me a pair of those "cut a penny in half" style scissors, they were labeled "heavy duty utility shears". They won't even cut baling twine, I must have gotten a bad pair. Hardly even sharp, and since they are serrated, I can't sharpen them with anything I've got. 

I use rose bush trimmers. They cost way less than the actual goat hoof trimmers, and work equally as well.


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