| Author | Message | ||
     Sandi Scott New member Username: sarasotasandi Post Number: 68 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 76.1.0.155 Rating: N/A |
Portia, I have a boer with hooves like this, only much worse. I trim her hooves once a month to keep them from getting really bad. Just take the trimmers and cut a thin sliver from each side of the front, then trim the bottom at the heel to keep the foot as level as possible. For this doe, I might recommend the lowest protein goat feed you can find, or even a general purpose feed. I've found the higher protein in most goat ration promotes hoof and horn growth. My local feed store only carries 18% meant for growing kids and milking dairy does. I mix it 50% with general purpose (12%) to get protein down. My goats do well on the mix. Your goat looks like a boer. Boer goats are primarily raised for meat. If she has any dairy influence, she might be a good milker, too. All goats are good weed eaters. From the pictures, it looks like you should take just about 1/8 to 1/4 inch off each side at the front. As Maggie said, it looks like her hooves have been recently trimmed. | ||
| Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 855 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 71.111.216.141  Rating: N/A |
Trim the hoof walls even with the soft inner part. Then you can use a rasp/planing tool from Stanley called a Stanley Sureform Shaver to rasp the bottom of the hoof off flat. You can trim the inner soft part of the foot down until you see light pink then stop. If you trim the bottom so that the toe is more upright, trimming the curled under side a bit shorter, and keep at it every few weeks it will improve. I bet your vet can show you how and she can wait that long. For the real low down on trimming goats feet you can get the book Nanny Manicures by Diane Gray. Several companies seem to have it in stock, just do a search for the title. Its about 5.00. It goes into corrective trimming and everything. Crossbreed goats like this are almost always used for commercial meat goats. The nubian breed was originally a dual purpose goat and the boer is pretty much a meat goat. Don't try to fatten her up too much. She shows alot of dairy character and dairy goats should never look fat. The hollowness in her upper flank is pretty normal for her type. They almost always have just a touch of leanness and sharpness around the shoulders and hips. The bones should be covered with muscle but should still be easy to feel (think dairy cow if this helps). Carrying any extra fat and weight will make her foot problem worse. I imagine this may be why she was headed to the auction. At her age to be broken down this far is pretty bad. But it can be managed to a large degree especially if she is now going to be just a pet. Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Portia Kaye New member Username: portiakaye Post Number: 5 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 69.19.14.42 Rating: N/A |
Thanks, she is sleeping, but I will go now and take the collar off...very good point. I don't even have collars on my dogs for the same reason. Just had not thought that far...we had already thought she should have a goat buddy, so we will work on that....since the one hoof is curled out, how much should we trim off? I mean do we try to straigten the hoof by trimming the 'curl' off. What is the best purpose for these breed of goat. We just wanted to save her from slaughter and hoped she would enjoy our place. I will take your advice on her feed and see to that on Monday. Her owner was feeding her sweet feed that he fed his horses...The vet will be back on Tues, he can take a look at her eye....any specific directions on the hoof trimming would be great, the site you recommended looks easy to follow, but the 'curl' was confusing us a bit. Thanks | ||
| Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 854 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 71.111.216.141 Rating: N/A |
They are not very overgrown at all, clearly have been trimmed not that long ago. She just has very poorly conformed splayed feet and weak pasterns so she walks down on the heel with splayed and leaned over toes. Not much you can do really except to keep her hooves trimmed so it doesn't get worse too fast. Its a fairly common conformation fault in goats. Have the vet see about removing the bump on her eyelid but it doesn't look too bad either. She is thin but not overly so considering she was nursing twins only 3 weeks ago. Try to find out when she was bred and if she is not more than 6 to 10 weeks along, consider using the Lutalyse and ending the pregnancy. Goats of this "breed" are seldom wanted for pets, finding homes for kids may not be easy. And it is a bit soon for her to be pregnant again. Please take the collar off. Goat have a tendency to get collars hung up in very bad places then panic and hang themselves. This is especially true if and when she gets a goat buddy that also has horns. During play and butting heads a horn can slip through a collar with disasterous results. Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Portia Kaye New member Username: portiakaye Post Number: 4 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 69.19.14.42 Rating: N/A |
I don't think the photos 'attached'. Here they are again. The files must have been too large, I have reconfigured all 4 of them...let's try again     | ||
| Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 853 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 71.111.216.141 Rating: N/A |
Did you send the pictures privately to my email at maggidans@msn.com? I did not get them, send again. You can't attach pictures to your posts on this forum. Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Portia Kaye New member Username: portiakaye Post Number: 3 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 69.19.14.42 Rating: N/A |
Unfortunately, "Bessie's" hooves don't look quite like the photo of the overgrown hooves on that site....I have attached 2 photos of her hooves...both of them, as you can see, are her back hooves. The left one is the longest, but it is curly and spread out....the right one is alot shorter but the toes look spread out also....at least more spread out than her front toes on her front hooves...I have also included a photo of a growth or cyst above her right eye....The 4th photo is just an overall photo of her. Hopefully we can get her all taken care of and in better condition soon. You should see a total of 4 photos attached. Thanks again. | ||
| Portia Kaye New member Username: portiakaye Post Number: 2 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 69.19.14.42 Rating: N/A |
thanks Maggie, I will go to the site you suggested and compare, if I am in doubt or have more questions, I will send you and email with photos attached. I am hoping the previous owner will be honest with me about when she was bred. Thanks for your time. | ||
| Maggie Leman Moderator Username: maggieleman Post Number: 852 Registered: 07-2005 Posted From: 71.111.216.141 Rating: N/A |
Likely her hooves just need a good trimming go to http://www.goatworld.com/articles/feet/footcare.shtml for some pictures of very overgrown feet. Do they look like this? I like the directions on this page best for hoof trimming: http://fiascofarm.com/goats/hoof-trim-rf.htm I like to use trimmers with thin blades that look like rose pruning shears and, actually, rose pruning shears work very well. She would do well with fairly frequent hoof trimmings at first every 3 weeks or so. Then if you get her every 2 months she will do great. Believe me goats don't hide pain well...The wound under her chest is fairly common, from laying on dirty wet or hard ground, it is a kind of pressure sore. You can apply an antispetic sauve to help loosen the scab. Bed her up well with clean straw (not hay) or shavings. Go easy on feeding her, start with just grass hay, no grain and easy on browsing and pasture unles she is used to it. You can begin to give grain twice a day starting with just a handful and working up to 1 to 2 cups twice a day as needed to keep her fit but not fat after giving her a week or so to settle into her new place. Provide a loose mineral mix free choice being sure it is 2:1 ratio calcium to phosphorus and has 900 to 1500 ppm copper and 3000 to 5000 ppm zinc along with other trace minerals. I find a beef cattle mineral makes a good substitute if you can't get a goat mineral with these amounts. Any feed or mineral labeled for sheep and goats will not have enough copper. Deworm her with Ivomec (or a generic) Injectable for Cattle and Swine giving 1 cc per 25 pounds ORALLY (dose her for about 150 pounds) once a day for 2 days then repeat in 2 weeks. Or if you have an ivermectin paste dewormer for your horses you can triple the dose by weight. Goats are pretty good at spitting a paste dewormer out though. You may want to dust or use a delicing pour on for lice. She really could use a companion goat but may be content with a horse or cow for a pasture buddy. Be aware that goats love to eat the hair off a horse's mane and tail. I learned this the hard way when my show mare lost half her gorgeous all the way to the ground tail. My goat bit off the hair all the way to the skin of the tail. If the pregnancy is fairly early you can give her a 2 cc injection of Lutalyse to end it. Feel free to send pics... Maggie Leman Goat 911 Capri Medic | ||
| Portia Kaye New member Username: portiakaye Post Number: 1 Registered: 05-2006 Posted From: 66.82.9.92 Rating: N/A |
Hi, thanks so much for your willingness to help new goat owners! My husband and I recently discovered that "Bessie" a 2 yr old Nubian/Boer mix was headed for the slaughter sale...so last night we offered to take her on our farm....the man brought her here after dark last night....this morning we immediately noticed she was limping....both of her back hooves are either deformed or in bad need of trimming....we have NEVER had a goat, only horses and cattle....we were not even aware that goat hooves needed trimming....obviously, neither did the goat's owner....she also has a medium size "wound" up under her chest....she is so sweet and does not seem in pain, or she hides it well! Would it be OK if I emailed you a photo of her back hooves to get your opinion as to whether this is a deformity or if trimming will help? We also found out today that the previous owner had just taken her 2 twins off of her 3 weeks ago and she is now bred again, most likely will have twins again we are told.....we want to make her as comfortable as we can.... Our vet I am sure can help us, but he will not return to his office until Tuesday morning and we are anxious to get an opinion from a 'goater'! Thanks again so much, Portia Newman Newman Farm, Drumright, OK |