How often can you trim?

SeaGoat · #1 12/12/14, 11:51 AM

My bucks feet are embarrassingly horrible.
I usually trim his and my does at the same time. I checked hers and she was fine, maybe take the tips off, but everything else looked great.

I guess his just grows really fast.
Early this year he contracted the deer worm. It left him with an odd gait and a limp.
Looking at his feet Im wondering if the gate and limp hasnt contributed towards his hooves growing funny and his limp and gate has worsened because of his odd feet.

Ive started cleaning them up but I dont want to take too much at a time.
How often should I keep them cut?
And how long should the hooves be?

Donna1982 · #2 12/12/14, 12:09 PM

I try to do it once a month but when you have 37 goats its hard to do.

Jay27 · #3 12/12/14, 12:16 PM

It seems all their feet grow at different rates. I have full sisters, in the same pen, eating the same food, etc and one needs to be done every 2 months and the other one goes 4 months. I too have a lot of goats and try to do them every 2 or 3 months or whenever I notice someone needs a trim.

SeaGoat · #4 12/12/14, 01:00 PM

So when you're having to reshape the hoof do it at a rate of once a month

marusempai · #5 12/12/14, 03:33 PM

I'm interested in how long they should be too... my girls stand square on their feet (mostly - I think Sundae stands funny on the stand just to worry me :P) but I wonder if they are too long.

I've also heard that the most often you want to trim is once a month (unless their feet grow EXTRA fast) because that gives the quick enough time to pull back if necessary. I've had one trimming and bleeding incident and that is NOT a fun day.

**mygoat** · #6 12/13/14, 10:36 AM

I try to get it done every 3 months or so.

wintrrwolf · #7 12/14/14, 09:56 AM

"Looking at his feet Im wondering if the gate and limp hasnt contributed towards his hooves growing funny and his limp and gate has worsened because of his odd feet."
I would say yes. If were to sprain your ankle and continue to hobble around you naturally put more stress on your other leg which could cause leg or hip pain, just an example.
I had adopted a min pom that had a broken right front leg we put pins in to hold the bone, he would hop around on the other 3 legs, what did eventually happen his left leg ankle started to turn in so I ended up having to carry him around until his other leg finished healing.