# Severely overgrown hooves on buck



## kinderkan (Sep 4, 2016)

I got a free buck and somehow didn't see his feet until we got him home. They are so bad they run under his foot and then his toe curls forward and somewhat to the side. We used horse nippers to take the curled up part off his toe and that has helped but there is a lot of work left to be done. My problem is that I don't think he has ever had his feet done. He is only one year old and his feet are so bad I don't think that's a far stretch to think they have never been done at all. At any rate, he does not like it. When we trimmed the long part off the toe we did it with his feet down. It stuck out so bad and so far that it was pretty easy to get the worst of it off that way and he tolerated it. When I tried to pick his feet up today he frothed at the mouth, bleated, kicked, tossed his head, and climbed the fence he was against to the point of knocking it over. I need any and all suggestions. I attempted to feed him alfalfa pellets to distract him and while he loved it, he abandoned it and freaked out. I tried to hold his leg and wait for him to calm down but he only escalated. Being new to goat keeping, I was too inexperienced to continue. Help!


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## SalteyLove (Jun 18, 2011)

If you don't have a lot of experience trimming goat hooves, this sounds like it may be a good job to pay someone for at least once until you can get a handle on it. Many horse farriers offer goat hoof trimming or you can try posting on your local Craiglist or a local Facebook livestock group to see if you can hire a very experienced breeder/owner. It should cost you less than $30. But you will still need to restrain him very well and keep that person safe.

However, I am definitely not against you trying to get this done on your own either so if you need help with the actual trimming strategy, you'll need to post some good photos of his feet both in a standing position and lifted up so we can see the bottom. 

As for restraining him for more trimming, this is the best strategy that I have used for extremely wild ones: Do you have a head halter you can use on him? This will give you more control than a collar and less choking risk. The best way to restrain him is to get a head halter on him and tie that really really tight and close to a secure fence post. You can also tie his horns if he has horns. Place the goat parallel to the fence, his face should be literally tied against the post and his head should be elevated fairly high, this reduces movement. Then, with his body parallel along the fence line, use anther strap/leash/rope and put that around his waist, right in front of his hips and tie that right to your fence line. So basically, you end up with the goat affixed to the fence line and two legs to work with. 

So you can only work on one side at a time with this set-up, but it will allow you to pick up the feet towards the back and work as you need to. Yes the animal is slightly uncomfortable but take your time and get the job done and then reward him with some feed afterwards.

If you have a helper that can offer animal crackers or another treat one by one to keep him distracted but obviously he isn't trained to a "milking stand" or anything so offering him a bucket of food isn't quite enough for this type of goat!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

You might need to toss him down if you have help. I had to do that with my 295lb buck last time and it made life great! I just laid him down on his side and had my kids sit on him. Once you get all the extra off it may look a lot better and you can figure out how to go from there. If not then after you get all the extra growth off I would post pictures here and see if someone can help you. It might be a long process of trimming every few weeks too though :/ of course if you can call someone to do it that would be great I just know that would never be a option here


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

Ideally, it takes four to do the one here on the left; One at his head to make sure he stays secure (and this is on a work stand) Another to hold a foot while I trim & another person handing me tools and.or any shots he needs at the time.
He's not mean just tough to handle.
Just recently heard of lavender oil so I will try a drop or two on his nose.


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## 2appsloosa (Apr 12, 2016)

Our Buck is very big and has really big horns being a Kiko. Couldn't find a halter big enough for him. And husband could not hold him still without chance of him getting hurt. So we dropped the tractor bucket down over the fence and used a rope tied around his horns and wrapped the rope around a hook on the tractor bucket and pulled until the Buck was just barely able to reach the ground with his front hooves. He actually picked up his feet and let us trim them. The front ones were very easy and the back ones were not bad either as he really couldn't move around much. Didn't hurt him at all and we didn't have to worry about us getting hurt either. That will be our method with him from now on.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I tie the bucks head up snug to a post or fence. I will trim and fight with the back hooves first. I then tie up one back leg, the side I am working from to do the front, when done, I remove the back rope from hos leg, move him to the other side to trim that side. Sometimes I will have to loosen his head to getting him re-adjusted for the other side.

All good advice above too.


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## sassykat6181 (Nov 28, 2012)

I got this fitting headpiece when I had boers. You can mount it to a fence or wall. I used the wall and it was fantastic!!!

https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=91efa582-9cdf-4bc6-9ef4-5a19b6ea1688


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

sassykat6181 said:


> I got this fitting headpiece when I had boers. You can mount it to a fence or wall. I used the wall and it was fantastic!!!
> 
> https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=91efa582-9cdf-4bc6-9ef4-5a19b6ea1688


That would work great for some of my goats, but I know of goats that would break their fool necks on them.


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## Dayna (Aug 16, 2012)

SalteyLove said:


> If you don't have a lot of experience trimming goat hooves, this sounds like it may be a good job to pay someone for at least once until you can get a handle on it. Many horse farriers offer goat hoof trimming or you can try posting on your local Craiglist or a local Facebook livestock group to see if you can hire a very experienced breeder/owner. It should cost you less than $30. But you will still need to restrain him very well and keep that person safe.
> 
> However, I am definitely not against you trying to get this done on your own either so if you need help with the actual trimming strategy, you'll need to post some good photos of his feet both in a standing position and lifted up so we can see the bottom.
> 
> ...


THIS is the best description of tying up a goat I've ever heard. I can literally see it in my mind as you go through the steps. If I was this new goat owner with this crazy wild naughty nono goat I'd do this.


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