[QUOTE=Meg Z]I've been looking at goats, and it appears nobody in this area trims goat hooves. Now, this is not rocky ground, so every goat I have seen has badly overgrown hooves. Apparently, when I find 'my' goats, they will also have badly overgrown hooves. Questions:
1.) How do I tell the difference between hooves that will shape back up with proper trimming, and ones that are permanently damaged?
I think that once you get the goats and look carefully at their hooves, you'll be able to tell. I have one goat who came to me with a permanent issue...the hoof is so overgrown that it *can't* be trimmed back without a power saw - that's how hard the hoof is...I can't get through it with my plane or the trimmers.
2.) I am assuming that I should trim these hooves with several, frequent, small trims rather than one big one. Is this correct?
Yes. Get as much as you can off right away, but then let the hoof rest for a week and go back to trim off some more. When you see pink, you can stop.
3.) Since we don't have rocks, and buying them is expensive, and seems ridiculous, can I make a play place/hoof helper out of cement? I can build a climbing thingy for them, but want to make sure the cement will do no harm.
It all depends on the way it is set up. A cement mountain is fun to play on, but if there aren't enough footholds, it can be tricky to navigate and they may completely ignore it. Goats seem to know when something isn't safe to play on (and then the one "idiot" goat proves me wrong...) If you get footholds, enough stability to get several smaller chunks of concrete in various positions that won't slip and settle as the goats climb on it, that should be fine. I've been looking into doing something similar in my goat pen. I have the concrete, but getting it from one place to another is the tricky part!
Hope that helps!
Sarah
