The hooves of cows must be trimmed regularly to prevent their deformation and the development of various pathologies, including infectious diseases of the epidermis and dermis. Burenki, which are kept in a stall in an attached form, this procedure must be carried out at least 3 times a year. In the case of loose housing, its frequency can be reduced to 2 times. What is important trimming hooves, and how it is carried out, find out further.
Anatomical and physiological characteristics of hooves
The hoof is a stratum corneum, which tends to grow like nails in humans. It consists of a pair of hooves, which are called phalanges of 3 and 4 fingers. They are facing each other and are divided in the distal part by a small gap. At the base of the hoof (corolla) there is a vault and a common leather case.
On the 5th and 2nd fingers, additional hooves are formed, which are vestigial organs, so the cows do not rest on them.
The anatomical structure of the hooves is as follows:
- keratinized skin epithelium;
- superficial connective membrane;
- deep fascia;
- blood and lymph vessels;
- nerve endings;
- tendons;
- bone apparatus.
In general, the hooves are quite complicated, because they can perform many motor functions. For example, due to the work of tendons and joints, an animal can bend, unbend and rotate them. Therefore, the health of the hooves is very important for the movement and activity of the animal!
The stratum corneum must be worn away when the cows move in natural conditions. However, modern content limits their mobility, so hooves are not erased, and therefore there is a need for trimming.
Why do you need to trim?
This procedure should in no case be neglected, since it allows you to prevent a number of negative consequences. These include:
- Hoof damage. When animals graze in the pasture, they move a lot, so there is a natural erasure of the dead solid epidermis. At the same time, the stratum corneum is constantly growing (by about 7-8 mm per month) and replaces the erased part. When animals lead a stall lifestyle, they move little, this layer grows much faster than it erases. Usually, the period of its intensive growth falls on the autumn-winter time. In this regard, the hooves crack, bend and deform.
Dangerous microorganisms can get into the formed wounds, causing inflammatory processes and decay.
- Ligamentous Sprain. If you do not remove the stratum corneum for a long time, the ligamentous apparatus will stretch very much, so animals will be more susceptible to hoof diseases than usual. At the same time, it will be quite difficult to correct the situation, since the ligamentous apparatus is practically not subject to recovery.
- Lameness. Violations of the hoof horns and damage to the hooves due to untimely trimming leads to various diseases that provoke the lameness of the animal. These diseases include:
- ulcer of the sole;
- footrot;
- finger dermatitis;
- white line disease.
- Infection. When the hoofed horn grows, the weight of the cow from the hook part moves to the sole. As a result, the stratum corneum grows and forms an influx on the sole of the hoof. In turn, this leads to pododermatitis (inflammation of the base of the skin of the hoof) and injury to the tissues of the hoof, which threatens infection of the animal. Due to the presence of infection in a cow, the following pathologies can occur:
- finger dermatitis;
- footrot.
- Decreased productivity. The cow, leaning on uncircumcised hooves, is in pain. She begins to eat poorly, and when moving slightly limps. All this negatively affects the production of milk. Its amount is often reduced by a quarter, but in severe cases, the cow may not give milk at all.
Thus, if timely trimming of hooves is performed, various diseases of the cow can be completely eliminated, and the following goals can be achieved:
- improve the condition of the herd;
- increase milk yield;
- provide the lovers with ease of movement.
Who should I trust to trim?
This work should only be entrusted to a well-trained specialist, since without appropriate knowledge, animals can easily be injured, which will ultimately lead to a decrease in their milk yield.
So, in the absence of the necessary experience, a team of professionals should be called in. They will come with all the necessary equipment, so there is no need to purchase it. During the day, the team can trim the hooves of 80 cows and perform a number of auxiliary works, including the treatment of limbs in the diagnosis of diseases.
Special workers can be invited once a season.
In the video below, you can familiarize yourself with the process of processing hooves by a professional:
Hoof trimming rules
This procedure is extremely important for the health of cows and their productivity, therefore, when carrying out it, you need to consider a number of rules:
- Determine the optimal number of circumcisions depending on livestock conditions. If the cows do not move much, lead a stall lifestyle, carry out the procedure at least three times a year. If the cows are bred to graze in the pasture, it can be organized 2 times - in spring and autumn.
- In case of creases and injuries, ungulate horns should be cut off unscheduled. Ignoring this procedure will lead to a decrease in the movement of cows due to the impossibility of their removal to pasture. Because of this, the blood circulation of the foot will decrease by 10-15 times, so the hooves will begin to grow more slowly, almost not being replaced by a new layer.
In order for trimming to bring only benefit, it must be carried out on time, otherwise the hooves cannot be restored even if all the rules for keeping livestock are observed.
- Before treating the hooves, carefully inspect for fungal and infectious lesions requiring immediate treatment.
- Take care when cutting. It is better to leave part of the old horn than to damage living tissue, causing the cow pain and inconvenience. In this case, the number of milk yield can be reduced by 20-25%.
- Check the quality of the work with the tester for the hoofed horn, which will determine the angle between the sole and the front of the hoof. In addition, it will help determine how well the hoof is in contact with the ground. If there is no such device, the plane of the surface can be checked by tightly applying the knife.
It is important that the surface of the hoof is even, otherwise the weight of the animal will not be distributed evenly, so the gait will change.
Instructions for trimming hooves with improvised tools
To perform the work, it is necessary to prepare the following tools in advance:
- hoof tongs;
- hoofed knife;
- rasp;
- ticks;
- hooks or special clamps;
- electric milling cutters.
Trimming is carried out in the following order:
- About a day before the procedure, keep the cow on wet sawdust so that the hooves are slightly wet and softened. As such, they will be much easier to trim.
- The limbs of the cow are firmly fixed so that it is motionless. It can be tied to the horns using nasal forceps or use a special machine for these purposes. In extreme cases, the cow can be knocked to the side and tied.
If there is no machine, then about 3 strong men should take part in clearing the hooves. When using the machine, one operator will handle it.
- Fix the treated limb to a stall or stable post. Start work from the front legs and only then proceed to the hind legs.
- If the animal is violent, then calm it down before the procedure. In severe cases, you can enter a neuroleptic agent, for example, Rometar.
- To clean the hoof of dirt, and then take the prepared tool and clean the sole, removing the gray old layer until elastic fabric appears. Act slowly and carefully. Typically, this layer has a thickness of about 5 mm. It is advisable to start pruning with the highest hoof, removing all the flaws to a white line. Similarly, process the second hoof. The work is considered completed when the sole will completely touch the surface of the hoofed knife. In this case, the axis of the finger bones (the conditional lines running in the middle of the ungulate, coronary and putus bones) will be perfectly straight.
To remove the old coarse layer, instead of a hoofed knife, you can use a grinder by installing discs on it.
- Align the hoof wall with forceps, setting them with teeth 2-3 mm below the sole. It is convenient to align its edges with a rasp. Do the same with the side walls in the presence of protrusions.
- If wounds or scuffs appear, treat them with iodine.
- Place the cow on a flat surface to assess the correct position of the hooves and limbs.
The plane of the trimmed hoof should be perpendicular to the axis of the leg to ensure that the cow has a normal gait and an even distribution of weight on all limbs.
Features of the use of machines
If when cutting hooves with a knife it is possible to damage the limbs of a cow, then when using the machine it will be possible to almost completely eliminate such consequences. With its help, the cow can be securely fixed with straps in a horizontal position. However, she will not be in a confined space, therefore, she will behave quite calmly. Electric drives are also brought to the machine, as well as devices for raising the leg and its fixation. It can be special clamps or ropes.
There are different types of machines, but they can be divided into two groups:
- Mobile. Such equipment can be carried. As a rule, it has a small mass and removable wheels. The frame is made of lightweight material, and the floor consists of corrugated metal material.
- Stationary. These sleds are placed on a concrete floor and cannot be carried. Made of pipes and stainless steel. The machine works without noise, without scaring the cow. Fastening the legs is done in 1-2 minutes.
Regardless of type, the machine is controlled by remote control. In addition to simple operation, it has a number of other advantages:
- allows you to fix the cow in a convenient and natural horizontal position without much effort;
- provides a hydraulic hoof trimming process;
- assumes reliable technology of energy saving;
- highly technical;
- completely reliable (made of durable frame and high quality materials).
Thus, when keeping a large number of cows in a stall, an experienced farmer should acquire special equipment to greatly facilitate trimming of hooves.
Stationary hoof trimming
Stall pruning
In small farms, pruning is often done right in the stall. In this case, the most important thing is to secure the cow, especially its head. It should be completely motionless. For this purpose, various crossbars are used. The legs are tied together and in addition to the supports in the stall. But working in these conditions is possible only with an assistant: one person holds the legs of the animal, and the other - clears.
Such trimming of hooves is also done with the help of improvised tools. These include:
- electric milling cutters;
- nippers;
- scissors;
- hooks;
- clamps.
To facilitate trimming, hooves should be softened with copper sulfate. Further, all dirt can be easily removed from the working surface, and then treated with an antiseptic. Work only with rubber gloves.
With regular sawing, only a superficial thin layer should be removed so as not to touch living tissue and not cause pain to the animal.
Hoof baths
After trimming the hooves of the cows, it is necessary to decontaminate them in order to prevent their infection and the infection of the remaining animals on the farm. To do this, they need to be driven through a bath prepared on the basis of one of these substances:
- Formalin. This is an aqueous solution of formaldehyde. It is very popular. The optimal dose of a substance in solution is from 3% to 5%. For hoof treatment to be effective, the air temperature must be above 13 ° C.
When working with formalin, you need to act extremely carefully, since it has a pungent odor and can provoke allergies in the form of redness of the skin, inflammation of the mucous membranes and irritation of the respiratory tract up to an asthmatic attack.
- Copper sulfate or copper sulfate. Less effective means, so its dose must be increased to 6-10%. This powder is difficult to dissolve in water, which is its significant drawback. The fact is that when interacting with manure and mud, it loses its effectiveness, so you often have to prepare a new solution, which requires considerable effort. All this makes the use of this drug less attractive.
In addition to formaldehyde and copper sulfate, individual households often began to use a new product called “Four Hooves”. It contains organic acids and ammonium. Even when the bath is contaminated by 20%, the product does not lose its antiseptic capabilities.
Regardless of the tool chosen, the following hoof processing rules should be considered after trimming:
- Organize a bathtub that can hold up to 200 liters of solution for about 200 cattle. Its dimensions will be as follows:
- length - 3 m;
- width - 1 m;
- depth - 15 cm.
- After passing 200 cows, replace the solution in the bathtub with a fresh one, as a repeated transmission of the infection is possible.
- Before refilling the bath, rinse it thoroughly with clean water.
- Drive cows through the bath 2 times a month. If an infection is detected, this procedure will have to be done every day.
To maintain good hygiene after such baths, cows should return to clean sections.
In the video below, you can see how the hoof bath is designed in an industrial environment:
Preventive actions
To prevent animals from suffering from hoof diseases, preventive measures must be taken:
- Provide a balanced diet for cows by providing them with fiber, micronutrients and vitamins. Concentrated feed is important in the morning, afternoon and evening hours. If the animals do not receive enough of them, then the quality of the stratum corneum of the epidermis will deteriorate, which will lead to the formation of cracks.
The diet of cows should be dominated by foods with fiber, rather than starch.
- Keep the cattle clean. With insufficient hygiene care, manure, poor ventilation or high humidity, destruction of the hooves will occur.
- Create conditions for animals to rest in the stall for 12-14 hours. Take special care of this during their preparation for calving. At this time, the hoofed horn grows more slowly, but it wears out faster. Because of this, hoof diseases often occur, and the animal is lame. After the cow calves, the flexibility of the hooves and the mobility of the shuttle bone will improve, especially with proper care for the animals.
- Pay attention to the floor in the barn. It should be smooth, durable and not fall through. It is good when there are slots in the floor for draining slurry so that it does not accumulate, but immediately flows into the manure depot. The hooves become especially thin and injured when the animals are in a stall with a concrete floor.To maintain their integrity, it must be covered with a thick layer of litter.
- Keep track of bedding. It should be constantly dry and clean, since dry hooves are much harder and healthier than those that are constantly wet. To avoid the development of ulcers, digital dermatitis and other diseases, 2 times a day you need to remove manure and change the litter.
- Trimming hooves 2-3 times a year, as well as organize their run through disinfectant baths.
With caring farmers, trimming of hooves turns into a mandatory procedure, which in the absence of proper experience should be entrusted to a specially trained person. After trimming, it is necessary that the hooves are located directly and completely touching the ground, so that the weight of the animal will be evenly distributed, so it will feel comfortable. After trimming, it is important to organize baths with antiseptic solutions. Observing all these rules, you can forget about the diseases of the hooves of cows.