In the wild, goats would be running around on rocks and stuff. That would wear down their hooves. Not too much of that in a pasture... so people have to trim them manually, which sucks.
So why not a goat emery board like the one for my fingernails? My first attempts at teaching goats to use my emery board were failures. Instead of teaching the goats to hold an emery board, I decided to leverage things they already do. So I consulted my list of things goats like to do.
Things goats like to do:
- Eat everything
- Climb everything
- Ignore everything else
So I ordered some non-slip grip tape, the kind for outdoor stairways. I sanded down a piece of plywood, dusted it off, and stuck on the grip strips. Now the goats have to climb it to get to their favorite spot. What I wanted was just a little "slide." Not too much, but not none. By playing with the angle, I arrived at what you see.
But, they got good at bouncing off the board, rather than climbing slowing. So I put a palate at the bottom. Goats are pretty sure-footed, so it's not a danger to them. It simply makes them slow when going up and down, and that gets me a little slide when they do.
Their feet are more healthy and much tougher. I still check them often, but I haven't had to trim more often then every 8 weeks. The photo of their hoof is after 6 weeks. An improvement would be a kind of edge around the plywood to prevent the edges from peeling up. Still, I'd say it will last about 5 years. I've had it for about 8 months now.
Their names are Handsome and Beautiful, so when my wife walks down to them she calls out "Hey Handsome, Hey Beautiful." Never gets old.
8
