# Trimming overgrown hooves



## tendermeadowsnigerians (Sep 8, 2010)

I have this doe, shes from great bloodlines and has awesome conformation, a beautiful udder but horrible feet. The person who gave her to me was not a goat person they bought her because she was pretty colored and had her for 2 years before they decided they didnt want her anymore. She was a little wild at first from not being handled in 2 years but is warming up quickly.
Her feet are horrible. They had never trimmed them and to make it worse she wasnt allowed a lot of time out in the pasture, she spent most of her time in a stall it was 14 x 14 they said she was allowed 2 hours a day outside, they had to put grain in her stall annd chase her back in everyday. Her stall was clean, dont know if they cleaned it because someone was comming over or if they really did keep it clean. I have trimmed them but they still need a lot of help. Wondering how often and how short I can go? Is there any possibility of making them look normal again? I will post pics of her feet later today. They were the worst I have ever seen!
She is walking fine, doesnt seem to be in pain or sore at all. Also got her CAE test back she is NEG!!!!


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## NorthOf49 (Feb 8, 2011)

Yay neg CAE test!! Too bad about her feet... I have one doe with chronic foot problems: I got her for free because she was on her knees on the front from the pain but I knew I could get her up with a lot of work. Which I did. And she gave us CL. Anyways. No free lunches right. 

I find it's hard to know how much to take off: it's easy if you want to know how much is TOO far. If you get blood, you've gone too far. So I usually go slow until I see a bit of pink and then stop there. With that doe, I gave her a week to two in between trimmings and just kept at it until the feet were normal again. In my case, I ended up taking off more than an inch of solid hoof including frog to get her standing again over a 4 months period. In general, I find you can immediately take off all of the hoof wall that has folded over on the bottom of the foot until it's flush with the frog (the softer centre part) and then work that part down slowly over time. 

Just my two cents... good luck and hopefully she'll be good to you.


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## prairie nights (Jan 16, 2009)

Nicole, 

I would be trimming this doe bi weekly for a while to correct this.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I brokered goats for about 10 years, we got goats in that were just in the most horrific conditions. I think that you should just get her feet down, treat her with banamine for pain and then go to normal monthly trimmings. When feet were horrible we used a belt sander, my husband held it upside down and I placed the foot on it. It went fast and cauterized the bleeders, and yes they limped, but it was so much better than the alternative, a doe who limps for months from trimming every few weeks. We did it as they came off the trailers, gave Tetanus antitoxin and their first CD&T shot...pulled blood for export and also wormed for internal and external parasites. We never lost a goat due to doing to much at once. Vicki


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## chell20013 (Feb 7, 2011)

I bought several does a couple months ago, all with terrible hooves. My husband's belt sander happens to sit within view where I do my hoof trimming and I have spent a lot of time wondering if it would be easier than fighting thick, twisted hooves........


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Michelle just try it one time. Wear leather gloves and make sure to apply even pressure, both squeezing the hooves together but also in pressing them to the sanding pad. It gets hot and stinks, with my asthma I do have to wear a mask, but it is so fast! Vicki


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## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

One of my mini girls had bad back feet when she came and my standard girl has awful feet too..... I've been trimming once a week, then using my dremel on the problem areas....Not the best, and I bet a belt sander would be way faster, but its what I have to work with right now. The dremel doesn't work if you don't trim off some before using it, but I've made enough progress that I feel like there is hope for them having nice feet.... Have also been told that copper affects the hooves & my standard girl is very copper deficient so I'm hoping that the copper bolus will also help to some extent.


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## tendermeadowsnigerians (Sep 8, 2010)

Shes not limping around so I havent given anything for pain but I am watching her to make sure shes not sore or in pain, she goes about her day eating and checking everything out and doesnt spend anymore time laying around then the others. But her feet are sooooo messed up. I totally forgot to get pics last night, I will get some today shes been trimmed twice to they look much better but I know I still have a ways to go. I do have a belt sander, I dont know how much that will help. Most of her problems are inbetween the toes, her hooves curled in so that her toes were spread out from the overgrowth, I dont think the belt sander would work, but maybe a dremel will....hmm....will try this. But I will get pics so I can get more input.


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

If the hooves are curled in, you should be able to remove all that at one time. Use the upper part of the hoof to picture how it would grow and where the hoof should be. The corium of the hoof doesn't distort outward, at least I've never seen such a thing happen. I believe the bone itself would have to distort, as the corium follows it.


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## Grumpy Old Buck (Feb 5, 2011)

Feet are someting that many breeders (shamefully) have neglected, both in their care and in their genetic selection (or away from) for weakness and tendencies to foot abnormalities. This includes excessive growth and rolling over after a few weeks.

Cull may be a four-letter word in more than one aspect ... if only more breeders weren't afraid of it, rather than just passing on a goat (or a whole kid crop) to the next generation of buyers.

Yep... I found my soapbox (yo, Vicki, it's a two-seater!) <VBG>


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## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

tendermeadowsnigerians said:


> Shes not limping around so I havent given anything for pain but I am watching her to make sure shes not sore or in pain, she goes about her day eating and checking everything out and doesnt spend anymore time laying around then the others. But her feet are sooooo messed up. I totally forgot to get pics last night, I will get some today shes been trimmed twice to they look much better but I know I still have a ways to go. I do have a belt sander, I dont know how much that will help. Most of her problems are inbetween the toes, her hooves curled in so that her toes were spread out from the overgrowth, I dont think the belt sander would work, but maybe a dremel will....hmm....will try this. But I will get pics so I can get more input.


The toe issue is what I'm having with my alpine..... I cut as much as I could off (still new at this and am a bit timid about going too far) and dremel a bit. Its getting better but now that she's 6 days past her due date its hard to balance on 3 legs and wait on me to work on her feet....

My mini alpine had bad back heels.....really flopped over, distorted and made her stand funny......her feet aren't perfect but the dremel really helped me get in between the heels and fix some of that mess and at least she's standing properly now....

Wouldn't mind trying a belt sander for general hoof work in the future though once I'm a lil more confident in what I'm doing...


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## nitrospeed16 (Aug 25, 2010)

If you're going to try it by hand, they need to be trimmed back every week or two weeks. 
Another good trick if the hooves are really hard is to soak them in warm water for 15 minutes or so. Sounds like a pain, but I've found that it really does help out a bunch to soften the hooves and make them more pliable for trimming.
And of course, a dremel helps too!


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## chell20013 (Feb 7, 2011)

Trimming early in the morning when their feet are still wet with dew helps soften hooves also.


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## cstafford (May 30, 2010)

....Another trick when you soak the foot is soap and warm water. Soap speeds the softening process!


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## chell20013 (Feb 7, 2011)

Resurrecting a long dead post here, but I wanted to follow up. Vicky had urged me to try the sander on my goats hooves. I finally did it two months ago. Kind of tricky at first, but 28 goats later, we got the hang of it. Last month things never did line up to allow me to trim anyone's hooves, but this month, I've been able too. SURPRISE!!! Although the hooves were overgrown, the FEET inside stayed fairly close to the shape we had sanded them to. If anyone has considered using a sander, now I will also encourage you to try.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Thanks for the follow up! Glad to hear about good results from the sander.


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## dreamfirefarm (Nov 15, 2011)

Like I have posted before a side grinder with a sanding disc attachment is easy to hold and works great on feet


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## Sharpgoat (Feb 7, 2008)

> side grinder with a sanding disc attachment


I am interested in using a side grinder what grit do you use?
Fran


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