Yesterday and today we trimmed cow hooves. Cow hooves are made of a material much like your finger nails. Their feet are soft and fragile, therefore proper trimming and care as well as a good environment are all critical to healthy feet. This trimming today and yesterday, would be referred to as a maitence trim. We mainly had cows with longer toes that needed to be shortened. We trim hooves 2 times every year, usually once in the spring/summer and once in the fall/winter. Cows are not used to the new equipment in the pen, therefore you will see some of the cows jumping a little when loading the trimming chute, but rest assured that these animals are not in any pain at any time during this process. Healthy feet are critical to the cow's ability to walk. Walking is critical to the cow's ability to eat, sleep and milk, therefore keeping cow feet healthy is very important. It was a long day but we trimmed 87 cows in one day and finished with the remaining 7 cows today. Thanks Brian and Rob for a job well done!
Friday, June 12, 2009
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I write this blog to share my passion for my cows and farming, please be respectful of that. I reserve the right to delete those comments which portray hate, call names, and are out right disrespectful. If you have an honest question, I will respond, to explain what we do on our farm, why we do it and how we do it. Please read with an open mind. My time to blog is short, as most of our days are spent caring for our beloved cows. Thank you!
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Hello Orange Patch people,
ReplyDeleteHere is MaMaLuA ranch from Brazil. I found your blog when looking for hoof chutes at Google.
Congratulations for your family dairy operations.It looks great from our parameters down here in Brazil. We started our project beguining 2008 in a very small piece of land (32.000square meters)using some Giroland cows, which is a result of crossing Holsteins x Gir (Indian).Productiveness and a short lactation period led us to trade all for Holstein, despite they are very robust for our hot climate. It would be interesting to exchange ideas about problems we all have with cows, but considering that you are on north hemisphere and we are far below the equator.
Greetings
Marcos and Adriana