BoerGoats.com Article hooftrimming

Hoof Trimming 101
by
Keith Smith

The goal of hoof trimming is to allow your goat to walk normal. If the nails are allowed to grow excessively long your goat will not be able to walk efficiently or correctly. There is an increased risk of hoof rot and other infectious diseases. If it can't get to the feed trough before all the food is gone it will be malnurished and other goats will get more than they should. If it can't run well it is at increased risk from predators (goats are only about 50 foot runners anyway but that's another article).

This is not an article on show trimming. This is the bare minimum we feel is necessary for our "field" goats. Show trimming involves more attention to detail and must be performed much more often.

The first thing to consider is your selection of tools.

Rasp - used to flatten the bottom of the hoof after trimming. The raised end, at the bottom in this photo, rests in the palm of your hand. There is a slight indentation in the top of the other end where your forefinger and middle finger sit. The tool is operated by pressing it down and forward, toward the end with your fingers.
Trimmers - select a sharp pair. We use the "orange" handle ones from Caprine Supply.
Knife - a *very* sharp knife. Works well in reaching those areas your trimmers can't get to. Also good for flattening the sole and for removing embedded rocks and thorns.
Brush - it helps if you brush off the junk so you can see what you're doing.
Blood Stop Powder - If you're careful and lucky you won't need this.

First, remove any dirt from the outside of the hoof and the dig dirt, mud, and nanny berries from the bottom of the hoof. A good tool for this is a hoof pick (not shown) or a nail. You can use the tips of your trimmer but by doing so you'll cut their life in about 1/3.

Hoof trimming takes time and is physically stressful for both you and the goat. It's very important that a comfortable position is established. We prefer having the goat secured on a fitting stand or other raised platform (though in my younger more flexible days I sometimes left the goat on the ground and just clipped it to a fence).

	The first cut on a badly overgrown foot like this one is to nip away the front of the nail. This makes it easier to cut the sides of the nails by opening a slot for you to fit the trimmers into.

Once the front tip of the nail is removed it's easy to insert the trimmers to cut the sides of the nail. You only need to cut it back even with the sole (also called the "frog") at this point.

Continue to trim the sides around one toe and then across the heel. Repeat the process on the other toe.

The frog and heel can be trimmed flat with either a knife or the rasp. When using the knife cut from the toe toward the heel. When using the rasp go from the heel to the toe.
This is the point where you might need the blood stop powder. Depends on how deep you go with the knife. Trim off a very thin slice with each stroke - a good rule is to stop when you see pink. Same thing goes for the rasp.
We stopped before we got this hoof completely flat. Note the dark brown areas on the sole.

	The nail, sole, and heel have been trimmed parallel with the growth bands around the outside of the hoof and we were seeing pink on the sole. We'll come back in a couple of weeks and use the rasp and/or knife to finish the flatening process.

Keith & Lucinda Smith are retired Boer goat breeders and now operate the Internet Boer goat magazine www.BoerGoats.com