# hoof curl problem help



## airwolftruker (Jul 15, 2011)

I have a preggos nubian doe about 10 months old and she has a hoof curl on her front hooves, the rear hooves are fine.
its only on 1 toe of of her two.
and the curl is on the inside toe on both front hooves.
Im trying to trim her a little at a time but it's been very difficult.
i dont have a stanchion to put her in. So i make do.
She has developed knock knees.
i have also noticed lately she doesnt walk normal.
and she doesnt want to climb up on the wall to eat.
i think she is getting pretty close to giving birth.
i dont know how to post pics on here.
any ideas? I would hate to loose her. She's such a great girl.
thx in advance, Greg


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

If you have the pictures on your computer, look at the bottom of a new "post reply" page.

There is a box with Attach Files in blue, and a Manage Attachments button. Click the button and follow the instructions.

We can't help much without pictures.


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## airwolftruker (Jul 15, 2011)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> If you have the pictures on your computer, look at the bottom of a new "post reply" page.
> 
> There is a box with Attach Files in blue, and a Manage Attachments button. Click the button and follow the instructions.
> 
> We can't help much without pictures.


Thx, ill try to get them up asap


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## Clovers_Clan (Jul 17, 2012)

If she is only 10 months old, and near kidding that could be a bigger problem. She may be using up the nutrition she needs for her own growing body on babies. Her strange walk could be from nutritional/mineral deficiency, not hoof problems. And that could also be the cause of the hoof problems. Do you know when she might have been bred?

If she is much further off from kidding, bred at 7-9 months, it sounds like you are doing right trimming a bit at a time. I have a doe with slightly imbalanced front feet, her inside toes are bigger than the outside toes. They support less weight and wear down less, so I have to trim more often. And she does look a bit knock-kneed at times.

It's also easy to be too timid about trimming and worried you'll take too much off. Their feet really are much tougher than they seem.

This is the best foot trimming video I've found, its a sheep but all still applies to goats. Well, except that goats aren't cooperative with being sat on their butts! You'll be trimming while she's standing.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ar7D-GARhI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ar7D-GARhI[/ame]


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

Do you mean the horn has curled over the frog?

If so you can cut that off all at once and it's best to use a sharp knife so you can get the floor of the hoof square.


If you mean that the goat is developing turned over feet then it's partially genetic and you have to work to keep the hoof flat on the ground while at the same time trimming to encourage that half of the hoof to be more perpendicular to the ground.


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## airwolftruker (Jul 15, 2011)

Heres a pic of her foot, i know its not very good and i took several photos of her but they just didnt do her problem justice.
She has always had her hoof problem. And i guess it's my fault her hooves are like that.
i was trimming my favorite bucks hooves and i nicked his quik and i cant see there quick so it scare me. So yes i guess im being a little conservative with her.
i dont know when she was breed. And yes im concerned about her kidding. She has always been a small goat.
She i pretty huge in the abdomen. Her vag is faceing down and i think i can feel babies on here side.
Her baggs havent filled yet.
as far as nutrition i give her more feed than the rest and free choice minerals too.


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## AuntKitty (Oct 25, 2004)

I don't know if you are in a selenium deficient area or not, but I have a Nubian doe whose feet grow really fast unless she is getting extra selenium, i.e. an extra Bose shot per year. You might want to get some Bose from your vet (about $17 for a bottle here in Tallahassee) and give her 1cc under her skin. This would also help with some possible kidding issues like retained placenta. Please post a picture so we can see for sure what is happening.

Kitty


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

That is not a hoof problem. You can breathe a sign of relief. 

She needs her hoofs REALLY trimmed.

It's simply normal overgrown hoof.

That is a WONDERFUL video!! I wish the goats would sit like that.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

This video shows how to use the tip of the shears to get under the curled hoof wall.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugMu_c2lGyI[/ame]


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## airwolftruker (Jul 15, 2011)

Hollowdweller said:


> Do you mean the horn has curled over the frog?
> 
> If so you can cut that off all at once and it's best to use a sharp knife so you can get the floor of the hoof square.
> 
> ...


No the horn and the frog are curled toward the other toe. I guess i need to try to retrain the nail too grow straight, if i can.
its pn the both front hooves.
i have just don't want her to go lame.
this is the first sign of problems. I just wonder if it could do with her and eextra. Weight being pregnant. I guess i would be a little more aggressive, but i cant see her quik.


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## airwolftruker (Jul 15, 2011)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> That is not a hoof problem. You can breathe a sign of relief.
> 
> She needs her hoofs REALLY trimmed.
> 
> ...


Thx, sooo much. I would hate to loose her. She's my precious little girl.....


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## CJBegins (Nov 20, 2009)

Oh gosh, she is a beauty. That hoof problem is very managable. Watch those videos and start trimming away. She has white hoofs so hopefully they won't be super tough. 

Did I say she was beautiful? I am in love!

Carla


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

That doe has nice feet!

I'd love for one of my goats to have feet that nice. Of course I think Nubians have the best feet and saanens (what I have) have the worst.

All you need to do is start at the heel with a knife and cut to the toe, being careful not to go too deep till those feet ar flat.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Great video but I was wincing the whole time because he didn't have gloves on!!!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

The no-glove issue caught my eye, too. ALWAYS wear gloves.


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## saanengirl (Apr 7, 2009)

Hollowdweller said:


> That doe has nice feet!
> 
> I'd love for one of my goats to have feet that nice. Of course I think Nubians have the best feet and saanens (what I have) have the worst.
> 
> All you need to do is start at the heel with a knife and cut to the toe, being careful not to go too deep till those feet ar flat.


Actually I think that on average Alpines and Oberhasli have the worst feet. With Saanens it depends on the bloodlines. I have a Saanen doe that appraised Excellent in feet. The feet on my goats in general tend to be pretty good as long as they are regularly trimmed. The only exception is when I am having imbalances due to nutritional issues in growing kids (i.e. extremely fast growing kids or orphan kids that refuse a bottle...). Those issues generally work themselves out when the goat is mature.


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## francismilker (Jan 12, 2006)

I've got an old saanan doe that needs trimmed weekly to keep on top of. No matter what, if she skips a week of getting a manicure they get too long and she starts walking on her heels bad. 

My Alpine has the best feet in my herd and the nubians seem to be really "thinned skinned" imho. It's not too hard to bring blood with a simple, light trimming. Their hoof floor seems to have shallow cover on it. 

To the OP, might I suggest getting some concrete cinder blocks and stacking them in her pen. Make her a mountain to stand on and crawl on. It does a good job of naturally trimming for you. When she gets bored with her mountain, move it a few feet and she'll have a new toy to play on.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Out of my herd, it's the LaMancha with the worst feet. We don't keep any of her kids because her feet are SO bad.


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## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

I've found across the board, Alpine feet tend to be the worst.... I've noticed that Lamanchas with a lot of Swiss influence behind them can have crummy feet too..... Nubians tend to have good feet... Even crummy Nubians.

But, the best set of feet in my herd happen to be on my Waillatpu Alpine doe, who scored an E in feet, and at 9 years old, she can go months without a trim and you'd never know it. My 1 Nubian has great feet, and my favorite Lamancha doe has excellent feet. I went on a cull spree over feet and legs, so thankfully all but one of my current animals have pretty good feet. 

Anywho, to the OP, I agree, the feet aren't bad, just don't be shy, and get in there and really trim that whole foot down and you'll be good to go


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Airwolf, Your girl is beautiful & look at those ears!

Great video Alice. I don't wear gloves & I know I should, I just don't feel like I can really feel what I'm doing. I am strange!


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## LoneStrChic23 (Jul 30, 2010)

Haha Katie I'm the same way with the gloves!!! Regretted the lack of gloves when I trimmed with a knife for the first time though.... nearly took off the tip of my thumb :ashamed:


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

Backfourty said:


> Airwolf, Your girl is beautiful & look at those ears!
> 
> Great video Alice. I don't wear gloves & I know I should, I just don't feel like I can really feel what I'm doing. I am strange!


I trim hooves for a living and never wear gloves, I despise working in them. I would also discourage anyone with limited experience from trimming with a knife. That's a disaster in the making for the animal and the human


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Out of my herd, it's the LaMancha with the worst feet. We don't keep any of her kids because her feet are SO bad.


I don't really have much experience with Lamanchas but the only ones I knew well had bad feet.

I helped my friend trim them.

The problems were mostly you'd have one normal sized half of the hoof and then the other would be really thin and with a very pronounced curve.

The other would be one clove was normal and the other turned under.

They were also mostly dam raised and had been cared for by 1 person so by the end of the trimming sessions they would all be bloody

I think with the saanens the main thing are spread toes and shallow heels. Purebreds generally being worst. A lot of the Wolfman Jack related stuff doesn't seem to be really great foot wise either to me.

I had one saanen buck with beatiful feet. Scored E and many of his daughters had nice feed. He was an American +*B Lake Country Opus Archon FS 90. but was mostly purebred background which made him even more unusual.

However he died and now I'm going back to having more + feet.


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## GoatJunkie (Dec 26, 2012)

I'm new to hoof trimming, but the thought of wearing gloves concerns me. I work by the *feel* of what's happening. Even thin gloves would block some of that. (I wear gloves for parts of my job, so it's not that I'm against them, or don't have any, because I do.)

My milk Mama has a turned in hoof on one of her rear legs. I've kept her feet trimmed close to the sole, but that is not the answer. I'm wondering if letting the axial wall grow might correct the problem....? (The hoof turns towards the center.)

Any advice is appreciated....


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