Recently, we had some friends over to the farm, and they told me that their kids like to watch videos of cows’ feet being trimmed. As crazy as that sounds to me, I told them they could come over and see it in real life because it’s a normal part of farm life.
But I figured that since all of you can’t just stop in on hoof trimming day, instead I would do my best to show and tell here. Cows are big animals and carry a lot of weight on their feet. So it’s really important for our cows’ health to keep their feet trimmed and in good shape.
So here are the quick basics on hoof trimming at Majestic.
- Our hoof trimmer comes to the farm every two or three weeks.
- Every cow gets her feet trimmed once a year. Generally, this happens while she is on vacation as a dry cow.
- If a cow happens to have a hoof issue between her yearly trim, she will be checked out by the trimmer when he comes next.
- If our trimmer discovers a cow has an infection in her hoof, we will treat it accordingly. Sometimes that means just cleaning it up, and sometimes it means she needs an antibiotic. But as always, any milk from a cow that has been treated with antibiotics has has her milk discarded until it is clear of any antibiotics.
I really believe that hoof trimming is an essential part of dairy farming. Keeping the cows comfortable and moving without any pain is just one of the basic parts of cow care. An uncomfortable cow doesn’t get up and eat. A cow that doesn’t get up to eat doesn’t make milk. It’s as simple as that.