Mountain States Meat Goat Association Show Wether & 4H page

When trimming for the show ring it is very important to trim early on ,I start at 2 to 3 months old .As they will be fed more there hoofs will grow a lot faster so it really important to keep up with your trimming !.

How to trim and correct hoof faults
Many commercial breeders don't worry to much about trimming hoofs correctly and only maybe trim twice a year as when you have a large herd it would be very time consuming to trim every 3 or 4 weeks !!

You may want to where a pair of leather gloves .I have found that the tools pictured above work the best at getting the hoof flat .If you start with a young goat it will be a lot easier ,the hoofs are nice and soft.Make sure the hoof is the same length from front to back and the inside toe on the front are a little shorter than the outside toe and slightly longer inside on the back hoofs

Cut the outside surplus off and then cut into the heal with your clippers, many older goats have really long heals which causes lots of problems .Finish off with your knife cutting from the back forward and slice in thin layers that way you can see when the pink begins to show .If you have a goat that toes out cut the outside edge shorter by a quarter of an inch ,from the outside in cut short, long, short, long that way she will "ring" over a bit and eventually straighten up .Same if you have a goat that toes in ,do the opposite ,long, short, long, short from the outside in .

If you have a goat with low pasterns (pictured above)you may be able to do something about it if the goat is still young enough .First make sure the toes are short even a bit shorter than the heal if possible then wrap the toes together make sure they are straight .Wrap the duck tape a round the toes and replace every 2 days or when the tape comes off ,make sure the goat has Ranch-Way minerals ,I sprinkle them over their feed to make sure .It may take a few weeks to straighten up but it has worked for me lots of times .It is very important to track well in the show ring and standing up high on their pasterns,it makes the difference of winning or not winning !!

First ,buy the right tools ,I use clippers and a all purpose utility knife ,one with a blade you can change

As you can see the second hoof stands a little straighter than the first after trimming.

Low Pasterns

MSMGA