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The health of goats is something that can be affected by multiple complications, one of wish is hoof care. Making sure that your goat’s hoofs stay trimmed and free of disease is the best way to manage goat hoof health. Goat hoof care is the process of cleaning, trimming, and identifying problems with the goat’s hoofs. Goats walk and climb over rough terrain, small rocks, boulders, and just about anything else they can get into. Keeping up with hoof care makes sure they stay healthy and avoid diseases. There are many problems that you can come into when dealing with the health of a goat. Keeping their hoofs trimmed and well maintained can help prevent many of the hoof diseases that can affect a goat’s health. Some hoof diseases are contagious and can spread to other goats. Keeping up with the overall health of the herd is an important part of raising goats. We’ve put together this guide for goat hoof care that should help you identify problems and keep them in top shape. Goat Hoof Anatomy Knowing what parts of the goat’s hoofs need the most attention is the first step of hoof care. Goats put a lot of strain on their hoofs and the function of a hoof plays a huge role in their survival. Let’s get to know a few parts of the hoofs and the mechanisms that help them keep goats healthy and performing well. The goat’s hoof is comprised of these parts: ToeWall SoleHeel The toe is where the two hoof toe points come together. If not properly trimmed on a regular basis these can curl into the sole causing a breeding ground for bacteria and disease. The wall is the outer area around the hoof that comprises the hoof itself. The sole is the bottom of the hoof and the area that gets the most irritated if not taken proper care of. The heel is the back of the sole/wall where the goat puts a lot of pressure. All these areas need to be carefully examined on your goats. If you see any signs of rot, a bad odor or discoloration you should address those issues immediately. Preventing Disease and Complications Keeping goat hoofs properly trimmed is the best way to prevent problems that can occur. Trimming them keeps them from growing in on themselves and holding bacteria. It also promotes growth and overall health. Goats are very active high-producing animals, meaning that they eat a lot, and grow a lot. Trimming their hoofs allow them to continue to grow, with fewer issues in hoof health. Hoof trimming can be easily learned. The hard part is not even the trimming itself but getting into the routine of trimming your goat’s hoofs often. They need to be kept trimmed and clean on a regular basis and you should develop a schedule for keeping them maintained. Keeping your goat flooring dry, by replacing the straw helps. When the goat hoofs are exposed to wet conditions it causes them to become soft and unhealthy. Proper manure management and removal is also a best practice for keeping your goat's hoofs healthy. Goats get dirt lodged into their hoofs if they get manure lodged into their hoofs bacteria and unsanitary conditions can cause foot rot. Foot rot is a preventable disease with the right amount of attentive management. Being in tune with your goat’s care and health can be a great start. Hoof Trimming Tools For you to learn how to maintain your goat's hoofs we have put together this quick and easy how-to. First, here is a list of goat hoof trimming tools: Hand trimmerFile Rasp or grinder The hand trimmer is used to do most of the trimming work. When trimming you need to make sure that the hand trimmer is sharp, this is where the file comes in. Sharpening your hand trimmer and keeping it performing well is key to a quick easy hoof trimming job. The rasp or the electronic grinder is used to level the hoof out. After you are done trimming you will want the bottom of the hoof to be level with the flat ground. Hoof Trimming How-To Now for the step-by-step how-to on how to trim goat hoofs. If you are new to this process this should get you started. First, you must clean off the hoof so that it is clean of any dirt, manure or debris. Next, you will use the trimmers to remove any overgrowth from the walls of the hoof.Now you should trim the bottom of the toes so that they are flat with the walls and even. Next trim the heel and the sole, in thin slices until the toes, sole, and heel is flat. Making sure that the hoofs are clean of any debris is important because it keeps the trimmers from becoming dull. You should pick any thick debris out of the bottom of the hoof that has become embedded. If the trimmers do get dull during trimming you can use the file to sharpen them. When you start trimming the walls you will sometimes find that the toes and walls curve into the sole, these must be trimmed down so that they are even. When trimming the heel and soles, use thin slices, trimming right up until you see the pink inside. The goat will let you know when you have trimmed enough by jerking its foot. If you trim too far you can cause bleeding, in which case you will need to use iodine to clean the wound or liquid bandage. You want to make sure that the toes, soles, and heels are flat so that the hoof sits flat on the ground. The part just above the hoofs that look like a little extra toe is called the dewclaw, sometimes they get overgrown and need to also be trimmed back a little. Goat Hoof Diseases There are a few diseases that affect goat hoofs. If you do not trim their hoofs regularly and keep on top of their health, they may develop these conditions. List of goat hoof conditions: Foot RotGranulomaShelly hoof Foot rot is the most common hoof related disease. It can be the most detrimental to your herd. It can cause them to become ill and even die. The disease is also contagious and can spread if not caught early. Goats that get this disease with it going unchecked end up needing to be culled from the herd, and if spread can cause the producer to lose many goats. This can be a costly mistake that can be easily prevented with regular trimming and hoof care. Granuloma is caused by hoof injuries. Red swelling areas form around the injury sites cause the goats to have pain when walking and will sometimes bleed. Symptoms include irregular growth around the hoof wall and lameness. Shelly hoof is when the white line where the soft and hard part of the hoof meets and starts to come apart from poor care. Holes can form, allowing debris to be lodged inside. This can cause infection. Some Final Notes Now that you know how to trim hoofs and how to prevent disease you will be better equipped at keeping your goat healthy with proper goat hoof care. Remember that left unchecked, diseases can cause your goats to go lame and even die. If done right, goat farming can be beneficial and rewarding so keep on top of things. Aside from hoof trimmers you can also use a hoof knife or sharp pocketknife, we recommend using trimmers but if you must use a knife make sure to always cut away from you and the goat for safety.The goal of a proper trimming job is to trim the hoofs so that they are flat but also so that they are in a straight line with the hairline above the hoof itself. If both match up, then you have done a proper job. Keeping sanitary housing is one of the best ways to prevent health problems in goat hoofs. Make sure to replace wet straw and keep the inside of your housing dry. Wet hoofs cause problems. Related Questions What do you do if you have trimmed too far? Cutting too deep happens sometimes, however, if there is bleeding you may have the goat stand on the foot on a flat piece of ground or plywood for a few minutes while holding it down. This will help stop the bleeding. You may also clean the wound with iodine or liquid bandages. Which tool works best for trimming? There are multiple tools that may be used, hand trimmers, sharp knives, or a rasp. Try the hand trimmer if you are a beginner, as it is the easiest option. You may decide later to use a sharp knife or even to rasp the bottom to get it flat, this also works well.

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