09/23/08, 03:55 PM
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Udderly Happy!
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 2,830
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Without knowing how long the hooves already are is hard to tell you specific, but here's what I do.
If you have a head gate to contain your cow in would be a great idea. Even the most gentle cows are not too fond of having their fingernails trimmed. (Not saying there's some that won't let you, but I never seen anyone have a cow tyed like a horse to a fence post and a cow that will stand three legged while the farrier goes at it.)
I run them in. Lock their head in with a rope halter on. I make sure the rope halter has a good long lead rope attached to it. Then, one at a time, I tie each respective ankle with the end of the rope that's attached to their head. Once their foot is pulled forward toward their head, (and believe me, sometimes it's a real rodeo for a second or two) I just use my hoof nippers to take a little off at a time. If they do try to kick their foot back, it pulls downward on their head and they figure out they're in a losing battle. The one thing you don't want to do if the feet are really grown out is take too much off at a time. You can get an animal in pretty lame shape by getting into the "quick" while trimming their feet too short.
As for the finished product, the fellow who brings out his portable hoof trimming table and takes care of the kids' show calves says you want to try to trim the hoof to the same angle as the hairline angle. (at the point where the hair growing on the hoof stops.)
I don't have to do this ordinarily because my pastures come equipped with a lot of rocks to do natural trimmings. However, if I purchase a new milker from somewhere that keeps cows on smooth surfaces where no natural filing occurs, sometimes it needs to be done.
I hope this helps. Maybe someone else on the board can give some more advice and we can both learn a better way to do it.
I've also seen a fellow one time lay a rope loop in his chute for the cow to step in. Once the cow's head was caught in the headgate, he'd cinch the loop up on whatever hoof he needed to work on and pull the foot and leg back to an anchor point somewhere that he could use to take up slack as the cow kicked. Eventually, she'd be strung out like a roped calf and he'd anchor the rope off and go to trimming. I've tried it and didn't like to have the cows put through that much stress. They seem to take it much less stressful the way I decribed above. If you have gentle dairy animals that are used to being handled by hand, this should be able to be done with a little patience. If you have beef cows that aren't used to being handled that directly, I'd suggest calling your vet and letting him give the animal something to calm them. It may be the best idea to get with your local horse farrier and ask if he or someone he knows trims hooves. It's sure not worth getting hurt over. Good luck and be careful
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Francismilker
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16
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