Help with feet

[Dfreddie]

My goats feet are horrible I trimmed before I sent her to be bred and due to weather and life I finally got her back this past weekend and went to do her feet tonight. I can't even trim the toes they are sooo hard. She's always had bad feet and I called a gal that's helped me before only to find out she left her husband and moved out of state (ya I felt like an idiot) so now I have no one that I can call.

Can I somehow soak them? Or what do I do?

[Clovers_Clan]

If she has hard feet you are very blessed. Yes, you can soak them and it helps TREMENDOUSLY! I try to save that chore for after/during a few good days of rain. Or put her up on the stand with a very shallow dish of water and let her stand in it for a few minutes. They don't much like water so the shallower the better. And sharp tools are a must.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Soaking or a rainy day is a great idea to soften up her hooves.

Here this time of year it's all snowy & frozen ground so usually their hooves are very hard too so I got 1 of those Electric Hoof knives for goats last year with some of the money I had from baby goat sales & I am in Love with those things.

They make the job so much easier & faster. They are kind of expensive but so far for me, well worth the price.
I have also read here that some folks use a dremel or hand grinder for hooves too.
I think the electric hoof knife is light so I don't have problems with fatigue in my hands & I have arthritis & I have no problem with them.

Here is the link below

http://www.electrichoofknife.com/GoatsSheep.html

[Dfreddie]

They're not just hard they are really bad. Like grown together kind of bad. I will try soaking. I can't believe they grew that much in just a few months. The other ones weren't but I should've known since she's always a problem child with feet

[mygoat]

You can soak them or you can wait for a rainy/snowy day. I always try to do bucks when there is mud or snow on the ground.

[Dfreddie]

I worked on one last night and finally got to the point I could trim but I'm lost. They are so out of control!! I wish I could take her to the vet so they could lay her down and do it or something but I don't want to stress her with being pregnant so I will search for pics on here and maybe post so I can have someone say keep going or stop??

[mygoat]

You will see pink before she starts bleeding everywhere. (to note - an old bruise or damage can be pink/red from old blood) Keep trimming until her feet look more normal. You want a FLAT walking surface. A little knick where she bleeds a bit is better for her than super long feet.

[Dfreddie]

Ok. I will trim and take pics. Post and trim some more as I'm told. It's gonna be a long process.

[Backfourty,MI.]

For really overgrown hooves you might have to do a little bit once week or every other week until they get back to normal.

The link above for the Electric hoof knife has some pretty good video's showing you how to do hooves. Of course they are using their hoof knife but you can see how a hoof should look before & after.

I've seen people post some pretty good youtube video's of hoof trimming too.

[Dfreddie]

I've looked at videos and will continue to. I did some more tonight. Embarrassed to show photos but I need help.

ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422579487.124320.jpg

Looking at my before (above) and after there is no difference. but here's another view

ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422579589.463237.jpg

And another

ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422579637.445243.jpg

The fronts are nothing compared to her backs. Keep in mind her feet were bad when I got her

[Dfreddie]

Here's her back 😳😥
ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422579942.103129.jpgImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422579974.877912.jpg
ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422580017.416973.jpg

I know. I've contemplated calling the vet but I don't even know of they can help as they're aren't a lot of goat people here. I worry about stressing her too much doing this so just a little each night is my plan. Not sure the vet would be able to do anything like sedate or lay her down to work as she's pregnant

[Dfreddie]

Not sure why different sizes on pics

[mygoat]

Try finding an experienced sheep or goat person in your area. I would be going to town, lopping off big chunks of those fronts. Take the heels down. Once you get those short, cut STRAIGHT a head and the toe will shorten when you do, making a flat walking surface. The rears aren't that bad.

Is your milk stand against a wall? If so, let her lean on you while you lift a leg. Or, sit on you when you lift a rear. :P

[Dfreddie]

Is it possible to draw on my pic to show where it should be so I have an idea? I think I do but I could be wrong. I know a lot needs to go but she gets so fidgety and uncomfortable. I think it hurts her too with them being so hard.

[Dfreddie]

"Experienced" and "goat person" is hard to find around here it seems.

[Dfreddie]

Haha she was leaning on me or I sorta made it so she could lay/rest on me. Poor Charlie.

[Frosted Mini's]

She needs a lot of toe taken off and make any rounded part of the heel flat. The bottom of the hoof can almost always be trimmed parallel or nearly so to the coronary band. You can shave the hair around the feet to help you see this better if you need to.

[mygoat]

I'm located in central Michigan. If I'm close, I'd love to help around my schedule sometime.

I wish I could draw on the pictures, but I don't have an application on my computer that lets me do that.

[Dfreddie]

Originally Posted by mygoat

I'm located in central Michigan. If I'm close, I'd love to help around my schedule sometime.



I wish I could draw on the pictures, but I don't have an application on my computer that lets me do that.

If you were I would take you up on that in a heartbeat! However I'm in the way SW corner of North Dakota

[Dfreddie]

Does this look right? This is her front hoof.

ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1422632068.330728.jpg