Feet trimming

Sue E · Post by **Sue E** » Wed May 10, 2006 8:35 pm

My Dexters desperately need their feet trimming as they seem to have grown so long whilst yarded over the winter. Does anyone know who would visit the East Yorkshire area to carry out such a service as I do not have the experience to try and trim them myself?

mindenho · Post by **mindenho** » Sat May 20, 2006 9:13 pm

I have recently managed, after two years of being let down by a foot trimmer from Leicestershire, to find a local person who came and did a wonderful job on my 7 cows today. He told me about the National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers and if you go to their web site www.nacft.co.uk you can look for someone in your area. I wish I had known about this years ago - they seem to be like gold dust and when I put a request on this brilliant discussion board there was a deathly hush! So Sue, I trust you will have luck in fiding someone in your neck of the woods. I certainly have some very happy and comfortable Dexters this evening. :D Erica.

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Mon May 22, 2006 4:50 pm

Lucky you to have professionals who will come to your farm. The only one that is used around here (Vancouver Island) won't do just a couple of cows (he does all the dairy farms). The vets are not too keen and they would want to sedate the whole animal which I don't care for. So, who has done it themselves and has some tips? You can tie up my cows but they won't pick up their feet like a horse although I am training the heifers to do that.

Kathy

Sue E · Post by **Sue E** » Tue May 23, 2006 5:02 pm

Many thanks for the web address, I will have a look and see if I can find someone reasonably local who can do short legged dexters

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Thu May 25, 2006 3:41 pm

Does no one do their own feet trimming????

Kathy

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Thu May 25, 2006 4:08 pm

I do. I would happily put some diagrams up here for folk to look at but not really very easy with this system. I do not have a crush and manage most of them single handed either lifting the feet or placing them between two gates, securing the head with a halter and lifting the foot with a rope over the gate. With a bit of practice most folk could do the lifting but should not really attempt the trimming without some sort of training. I used to do training courses for the old Agricultural Training Board but that all fell by the wayside when ATB changed its name and nature.

Duncan

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Thu May 25, 2006 8:32 pm

I do my own too, but I have the same 'advantages' as Duncan.

I use a crush to do the hind feet, but halter them to a solid yard gate for the front ones. Fortunately, they're all quite amenable...

If you have sharp enough tools and a foot that doesn't move, you're halfway there - but the other half is, as Duncan has already pointed out, that you really do need to know what you're doing.

hazel clarke · Post by **hazel clarke** » Sat May 27, 2006 5:35 pm

Have also done training course not too many years ago. Made me realise just what a proffessional job it is, and you could do with the right equipment! Once one finds a good "chap" just as well to keep on using him. My experience has been that once you start trimming a cows feet you have to keep on doing it, so now I only have the really bad ones done and the rest seem to take care of themselves. It also helps if not all your land is soft and a walk along a road can help!

Kathy Millar · Post by **Kathy Millar** » Sun May 28, 2006 4:02 pm

Thanks for the advice. I was starting to worry about one cow as her toes cross a bit and squeak when she walks. At the moment she is very pregnant but once she has had the calf I will need to do some serious planning. All we have are horse farriers. And that cow is pretty wild but I like Duncan's idea of the crush and a rope.

Kathy