Hoof Care

You may need:

• bleach water for soaking tough feet hoof
• shears or garden pruning shears
• horse hoof pick
• Koppertox or other hoof rot ointment
• small wood planing tool
• blood stop powder or at least cornstarch

Good routine hoof care is far more preferential than a quarterly or semiannually trim. If they are allowed to grow, they can split or get brittle, cracking up into the quick and causing soreness and infection. They can collect small stones and are more of a contained moist area for hoof rot to occur.

A heavily pregnant doe is reluctant to stand for very long on three legs, so the faster you can cut the new growth off, the easier on both yourself and the goat. The 'hoof rot shears' sold by caprine supply and other supply houses were the standard for many years. In the last 5 years, the gardening or pruning clippers have become popular. These have a bright orange handle and thin blades coated with teflon. Whatever pair you decide to get, make sure the cutting blade is thin and short, and that both sides of the scissors have a cutting edge. Often gardening or pruning shears will have a cutting edge that hits a blunt platform to make the cut. These won't work for hoof clippers. I've seen a nice tool made from a carpet blade and I also use a knife with both sides of the blade sharpened. This pares off both sides of the toe in one motion, and is good for routine hoof maintenance. So, use whatever you feel most comfortable with, and what works for you.

You'll also want to invest in a small Stanley wood plane to rasp off all the burrs and rocky edges you've created. The plane is used as a final step to level and blunt the edges after the hoof has had as much excess growth trimmed off as possible.

Pick up the hoof and pick out any small stones and hay or manure. The tip of the clippers is fine for this but you may be more comfortable using a blunt horse hoof pick.

To make the actual cut: Work from the heel to the toe, trimming the overgrown hoof as closely to the pad as possible. You'll probably have to make several cuts to get it to the level needed. Leave the toe somewhat longer than you might think to help preserve the look of balance, and actually, help to prevent new growth from turning under the foot. Once you get familiar with the way a goat hoof grows, you can actually do a little orthopedic trimming to help correct the legs and gait of some animals. By taking more off the heel, you can shorten the pasterns on an animal that may have slightly fallen pasterns. If they toe out or in, you can adjust somewhat by trimming more off one side than the other. Basic major faults, lobster toes, cow hocked, etc, can not and should not be corrected by simple hoof trimming. These and some others are heridity traits and should be held under consideration when the animal is paired for breeding.

Goats that have been left for a bit longer than desirable will have to have their feet trimmed in stages. The tender quick needs to be allowed time to recede or you could easily cut into it. If you do, don't panic, we've all done it, and the amount of bleeding is alarming, but usually harmless. Have some blood stop powder handy or even cornstarch will work to staunch the hoof cut. You HAVE made the foot sore, so expect the goat to favor that hoof for a few days. Small stone bruises in the pad itself can often be trimmed completely away without affecting the goat at all. (In horses, this pad is called the frog.) If the pad has had material pressed against it for any length of time, it'll develop hoof rot fairly easily. If you notice any odor at all while working on the feet, an ointment called KopperTox can be applied to aid hoof rot conditions, after the manicure. Generally, keeping the feet dry and cleaned out of any foreign material will be the best solution possible.

Beware of old wives tales! I've heard several 'explanations' of why an owner has not trimmed feet in an alarmingly long time. "The extra hoof keeps the goat off the cold ground in the wintertime," "She was so pregnant, I didn't want to make her stand on 3 legs." "I like to see how long their toes grow, it is a good indication of milk capacity." (?) "She's so fat and lazy, she ALWAYS walks on her knees!" I'm sure you've heard others just as bizarre. If you plan to purchase a new goat, look closely at the whole herd. If many or most of them have poor feet, chances are the owner is careless with the rest of their management also. If a number of them are limping, a giveaway that emergency hoof trimming was attempted prior to the sale. This would not keep me from purchase, but I'd be hesitant to believe anything about the goats other than my own observations. Take advantage of wet pastures and rainy weather by routine maintenance on your herd's feet. If I have a disagreeable task waiting on me elsewhere, my goat's feet must be tended to first!

Text and images copyright 1998 Martha Wells