There are two good reasons to look at your cattle herd's feet regularly. First, problems with hooves may cause your cattle unnecessary pain. Secondly, whether you are raising dairy, beef or bucking stock, foot trouble costs you money in decreased production and performance. These are the practices we employ here at our bucking stock operation.
Here are some basics to be mindful of. Cattle that spend most of their time on rough natural ground need less care typically. Cattle that are standing on concrete, or other artificial surface
need more care to their feet. Cattle need to be able to lay down for about four or five hours a day to rest their legs and feet. If they are not allowed this rest time, they will have more problems. Watch how far your herd needs to travel, what they are walking on, and make sure they have enough suitable space for this laying down time.
Based upon the particular character of your operation, you should establish a regular schedule for hoof maintenance and care. This would typically be about twice a year for the average dairy program. This should include checking the first calf heifers about 60 days before they come due to make sure they will be well set for carrying the extra weight of the last phase of pregnancy and their coming full udders.
Most lameness in cattle is due to hoof injury or disease versus leg injury. The exception here is with bucking stock, where injury to legs is much more common. These are usually incurred in the course of competition and are observed though. Handlers should become familiar with locomotion scoring and use this tool regularly to scan herds for foot problems. We do this daily in the course of our pasture work at our ranch.
The cattle should be tended by a trained hoof trimmer unless you have gotten this training yourself. These can be difficult to track down outside dairy belts but it is worth the time to make sure that the work is done correctly. A confinement cage appropriate for the purpose is absolutely needed to do the job safely. Most trimmers prefer chutes that tilt and lay the animal over horizontally once secure. Professional trimmers have these and travel with them to job site.
The cost of an unprofessional job or lack of attention here can mean the needless sacrifice of an animal, or pain that could have been prevented. It is our responsibility to make sure that our animals are well cared for from nose to toes while they are in our herds. These tips should help.
By author Dr. Eileen Schweickert
For more information about livestock care and best ranch practices please check out our web site. The story of the start of of the 4B Ranch is available in Funny Farm, available at our ranch website
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