Cattle hoof care ?

Fat Cant

Was thinking of going to do this as a part time job . I farm full time at the moment .
Was wondering would there be much of a demand for this kind of work in your opinion?
How often do any of you dairy or beef farmers get in a hoof trimming man ?
I would have to invest in a mobile crush for the job which might cost a few pound .

reilig

Fat Cant wrote: »

Was thinking of going to do this as a part time job . I farm full time at the moment .
Was wondering would there be much of a demand for this kind of work in your opinion?
How often do any of you dairy or beef farmers get in a hoof trimming man ?
I would have to invest in a mobile crush for the job which might cost a few pound .

2 or 3 times max a year for 60 suckler cows. Its always the same few cows and the bull before he goes onto slats. Our guy has 25 years experience and is top class. I think that your biggest problem would be to get experience. I wouldn't like to let someone with little or no experience work on my cows or bull's hoofs.

A manual Woppa towable crush costs in the region of €10k. Don't know if there are any crushes out there to match them.

Also its very important that you would have insurance - have heard of a few people claiming off hoofcare operater for cows that died from blood poisoning following hoofcare treatment. (None off my guy tg. )

Fat Cant

reilig wrote: »

2 or 3 times max a year for 60 suckler cows. Its always the same few cows and the bull before he goes onto slats. Our guy has 25 years experience and is top class. I think that your biggest problem would be to get experience. I wouldn't like to let someone with little or no experience work on my cows or bull's hoofs.

A manual Woppa towable crush costs in the region of €10k. Don't know if there are any crushes out there to match them.

Also its very important that you would have insurance - have heard of a few people claiming off hoofcare operater for cows that died from blood poisoning following hoofcare treatment. (None off my guy tg. )

25 years experience is a long time but he had to start up himself at 1 time .

reilig

Fat Cant wrote: »

25 years experience is a long time but he had to start up himself at 1 time .

He trained in the uk for 6 weeks and then spent 6 months more working alongside another hoofcare operator.

loveta

Alot depends on the operator himself,if your naturally good at it "you wont be long finding out" have had 3 or 4 guys down through the years and none of them touched on guy who had de most basic of basic of crates.He kept cool with the really akward ones and had a great way with the customers and knew his stuff. Now all de guys have top of the range crates "10-15 grands worth" loads of other stuff but they all can do SFA without there grinders, and they have not a clue how severe they are they should be the last tool used not the first...
If you dont have as an expensive a crate to pay for you could work a little cheaper and get more biz...... "just a thought"

simx

the lad we get has a very basic crate,could make it yourself no problem, hes good and it is a hassle to get him to come as hes so busy mightnt come for 2/3 weeks sometimes, neighbour told me the other day he paired 20 cows for 40e for him and id well believe it, hes a nice man wouldnt see ya stuck and doesnt ram ya,often wont take anything if only 1 or 2 cows and he doesnt have a grinder

loveta

nice..... and being a soft touch is different but two euro a cow... for f@*ks sick is he well in the head if i have a medium amount of cows to do say 5 or 6 and one or two shoes used id be very happy paying a E100. one cow call out would be 30-40 euros

redzerologhlen

simx wrote: »

the lad we get has a very basic crate,could make it yourself no problem, hes good and it is a hassle to get him to come as hes so busy mightnt come for 2/3 weeks sometimes, neighbour told me the other day he paired 20 cows for 40e for him and id well believe it, hes a nice man wouldnt see ya stuck and doesnt ram ya,often wont take anything if only 1 or 2 cows and he doesnt have a grinder

I have a neighbour that does it and its a very last resort to call him at this stage because he wont take any money off me and thats not on in my eyes. Hes at it about 10 years and is unreal busy at it but he has made a great name for himself. He started off with a basic manual crate and a hoof knife for a few years but he has all the mod cons now.

reilig

How do the guys with basic crates handle bulls?

For most suckler farmers the bull is the animal that the hoof care operator will be called to do!

freedominacup

reilig wrote: »

How do the guys with basic crates handle bulls?

For most suckler farmers the bull is the animal that the hoof care operator will be called to do!

Our guy is v.good. Works for W'ford FRS basic enough crate. Bulls are usually done with teleporter here. Our crush is a series of 2"galvinised gates with a 6' and a 2' at the skulling gate so access is easy.

jomoloney

reilig wrote: »

A manual Woppa towable crush costs in the region of €10k. Don't know if there are any crushes out there to match them.

the crush my guy was about €30K six years ago,
he was literally up the wall this year with about 3 weeks of a backlog , however in fairness to him if the animal was in distress he done his best to treat


@ op there is certainly work there , but to get established and up and running will be your problem

afaik there is or was recently founded an organization for hoof care specialists, that would be my first port of call

loveta

reilig wrote: »

How do the guys with basic crates handle bulls?

For most suckler farmers the bull is the animal that the hoof care operator will be called to do!

From what i know it depends on the area your in, eg dairy,suckler ect ect where iam from its a lot of dairy and they make up de bulk of the work "cows" that guy i had years back with the basic crate would not do bulls.But when you think about it on average there is only 1 on every farm hardly worth spending 30k for that ammount of cattle

reilig

loveta wrote: »

From what i know it depends on the area your in, eg dairy,suckler ect ect where iam from its a lot of dairy and they make up de bulk of the work "cows" that guy i had years back with the basic crate would not do bulls.But when you think about it on average there is only 1 on every farm hardly worth spending 30k for that ammount of cattle

I never mentioned €30k. I said that a manual woppa crush comes in at approx €10k. I was trying to be relevant to the op's topic. If he is going to start a business and wishes to cater to farmer's requirements then he will need equipment to do so. As you said, it doesn't have to be top of the range, but nobody wants to be turning away custom because they don't have suitable equipment for the business that they are in, nor do they want to injure themselves or an animal by using equipment that isn't fit for purpose. I would not recon a diy mobile hoofcare crush to be suitable or safe for man or animal.

pakalasa

Out of interest, anyone here do their own hoof trimming. I used to do the odd one with the hand Hoof Cutter (green one). I only did the very front of the hooves, never underneath with a knife etc.
Better to leave it to the experts, I guess.

loveta

reilig wrote: »

I never mentioned €30k. I said that a manual woppa crush comes in at approx €10k. I was trying to be relevant to the op's topic. If he is going to start a business and wishes to cater to farmer's requirements then he will need equipment to do so. As you said, it doesn't have to be top of the range, but nobody wants to be turning away custom because they don't have suitable equipment for the business that they are in, nor do they want to injure themselves or an animal by using equipment that isn't fit for purpose. I would not recon a diy mobile hoofcare crush to be suitable or safe for man or animal.

OOPS.... wrong guy i quoted:o
it was jomoloney mentioned 30k
my point being be it 10k or 30k either is alot of loot to be investing in a unknown customer base. Start of easy seen one on done deal a manual wopa one for a grand sterling "kicking myself did not buy it" does 98% of the expensive ones... O and ya will need a generator for out farms with the automatic ones..... "another cost"

Rovi

pakalasa wrote: »

Out of interest, anyone here do their own hoof trimming. I used to do the odd one with the hand Hoof Cutter (green one). I only did the very front of the hooves, never underneath with a knife etc.
Better to leave it to the experts, I guess.

I did ours for years, having done a one-day course on the subject.
Used left & right handed knives, 2 types of cutter/shears, and the nail-on type shoes.
The glue-on shoes and grinding discs were just appearing when we went out of cattle, so I never used any of those.
I'd tackle 'normal' overgrowth, ulcers, grit/stones/foreign bodies, etc, but like all DIY veterinary procedures, it's also important to know when to call in the professionals.

munkus

pakalasa wrote: »

Out of interest, anyone here do their own hoof trimming. I used to do the odd one with the hand Hoof Cutter (green one). I only did the very front of the hooves, never underneath with a knife etc.
Better to leave it to the experts, I guess.

Ya, I do our own. Got the ratchet thing to pull up the leg which is a great help. Before that you'd have to lift the leg and hold it up in one hand and do the knife work with the other, and then she'd sh1t down your back. Just about managable with dairy cows but not suckler. Most lameness is caused by crap getting caught between the claws or a stone or a drop embedded in the hoof itself.

bogman_bass

pakalasa wrote: »

Out of interest, anyone here do their own hoof trimming. I used to do the odd one with the hand Hoof Cutter (green one). I only did the very front of the hooves, never underneath with a knife etc.
Better to leave it to the experts, I guess.

Just did a girl last week followed the track of a stone down into the hoof and the SQUIRT! was like hitting oil when the puss came out. Helps to have nice quiet cows. Best yoke we ever got was a pair of long handled pruning shears (like you would use on fruit trees) great for triming overgrown and overlapping claws

Tipp Man

Haven't had to pare a cow in over 3 years

But have spent a fortune in roadways in that time:eek: Having the right surface is vital

ZETOR_IS_BETTER

reilig wrote: »

How do the guys with basic crates handle bulls?

For most suckler farmers the bull is the animal that the hoof care operator will be called to do!

Id be worried about the bull i bought if im getting someone out to cut his hooves.

Just in relation to how many times a year. I get the same cows done once a year.
Guy is top class. He has a basic crate (no where near €10k).
He would be talking away to the cows while he is cutting them (seems to work btw!)

reilig

ZETOR_IS_BETTER wrote: »

Id be worried about the bull i bought if im getting someone out to cut his hooves.

!)

Bulls by their nature are heavy and therfore liable to hoof spread. Far more liable than cows. If you don't look after it they can become lame and have to be factoried early. Ask any hoofcare operator in a non dairy area , bulls account for almost 50% of their work.

Timmaay

Tipp Man wrote: »

Haven't had to pare a cow in over 3 years

But have spent a fortune in roadways in that time:eek: Having the right surface is vital

Something that I started to fix up last summer but had to abandon the job 1/2 way through with the weather etc. Out of interest what would you describe as the right surface? I'm having enough hassle at the minute with lameness through, the chap we get in says he has been flatout all year, no letup over the winter, as all the cows came in to the houses with soft feet.

freedominacup

Timmaay wrote: »

Something that I started to fix up last summer but had to abandon the job 1/2 way through with the weather etc. Out of interest what would you describe as the right surface? I'm having enough hassle at the minute with lameness through, the chap we get in says he has been flatout all year, no letup over the winter, as all the cows came in to the houses with soft feet.

Footbath, footbath, footbath. Copper Sulphate job done.

mf240

Didnt have one lame cow in 2012

Slig on all roads.

Lame cows culled over the years.

cows walk at their own pace nobody rushes them.

Adequate fibre in diet at all times (straw offered at milking times)

Now to be fair im a small farmer so there never walking huge distances.

Two things that cripple cows imo are bad roads and dogs.

whelan1

Tipp Man wrote: »

Haven't had to pare a cow in over 3 years

But have spent a fortune in roadways in that time:eek: Having the right surface is vital

this... i did up roadways last year, think i have had 1 lame cow all winter, also reduced mortellaro(sp) will do more roadways this year please god

loveta

Tipp Man wrote: »

Haven't had to pare a cow in over 3 years

But have spent a fortune in roadways in that time:eek: Having the right surface is vital

What exactly is the right surface???