Just out of curiosity, how often do you trim your animal's hooves? And how long do you let the hoof get before you decide they need to be trimmed?
If your animal has hooves (not just goats & sheep), feel free to answer, too
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My answer:
We trim our sheep's hooves only once a year (when they're sheared), regardless of what they look like. Obviously some hooves won't need as much trimming as others, even on the same animal.
eta:
Here's my ewe's hoof, with about 5 months worth of growth. The sheep did, however, have their hooves trimmed & were put through a footbath late August 2012 before they were turned out on my pasture. This was the first time they've had their hooves trimmed more than once in a year. But you can see, only near the heel of her hoof has some hoof growing underneath. The rest of the wall of the hoof doesn't have much, if any, growth. But overall not much is there to trim, even on the heel of the hoof. I personally would not trim a hoof that looks like this.
If your animal has hooves (not just goats & sheep), feel free to answer, too
-----
My answer:
We trim our sheep's hooves only once a year (when they're sheared), regardless of what they look like. Obviously some hooves won't need as much trimming as others, even on the same animal.
eta:
Here's my ewe's hoof, with about 5 months worth of growth. The sheep did, however, have their hooves trimmed & were put through a footbath late August 2012 before they were turned out on my pasture. This was the first time they've had their hooves trimmed more than once in a year. But you can see, only near the heel of her hoof has some hoof growing underneath. The rest of the wall of the hoof doesn't have much, if any, growth. But overall not much is there to trim, even on the heel of the hoof. I personally would not trim a hoof that looks like this.
