Hoof trimmer: Richard Weingart, North Franklin, Connecticut
Location: Utah
Case study: Maintenance trim on a rear hoof
Chute style: Right-tilt
Technique:
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1. Beware of the hazard of hoof trimming – instant gratification. Because the work of a hoof trimmer is to frequently make a lame cow walk again, it is easy to only feel good about working on lame cows. Although not as fulfilling or noteworthy, maintenance trimming is more important.
Consider how much a lame cow will cost the dairy in lost milk production before you get to trim her, your wage to trim her once she’s lame and other costs in follow-up treatments. Considering all of these costs, maintenance trimming twice per year is really cheap. |
2. Upon visual inspection, this hoof has about the right amount of normal growth for a healthy animal this age on this dairy. She was trimmed six months ago. |
| 3. Measure the inside toe to check for length. Measure when you first start trimming. Your eye will adjust and you will learn to gauge length with experience. | 4. Next trim the sole of the inside claw. Because of the way cows walk, it is important to have balance in the back heels. There are a few different ways of achieving this balance. The difference of opinion is in how much and how far back on the sole to remove. This is how much I typically remove. |
| 5. Next trim the sole of the inside claw. Because of the way cows walk, it is important to have balance in the back heels. There are a few different ways of achieving this balance. The difference of opinion is in how much and how far back on the sole to remove. This is how much I typically remove. |
6. Concave slightly the ulcer site and nip the front of the outside claw. There isn’t much to take off the outside toe to make the toes even across.
There is a little color left here on the sole. A little of this sole is flaking off. Some would say I could have taken this off too. I think it’s going to wear off. I’d rather leave a little too much than take a little Avoid removing axial wall. Axial wall helps the claw’s stability. |
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7. This is what the hoof would look like from the front when finished. It’s always better to leave a toe a bit longer than have it be too short. PD |
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