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goats and sheep

playground for goat hooves

tel jetson

steward

Posts: 3718

Location: woodland, washington

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posted 15 years ago

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so, I'm wanting to avoid the onerous task of trimming goat hooves. I just haven't gotten the knack of it. it gets done, but it isn't pleasant for me or the goats.

so... I've built a small platform that the goats seem to like playing on, and I'm wondering if putting some sort of abrasive on it will wear down the hooves enough to make trimming unnecessary or at least necessary less often. what do you think?

haven't decided on the abrasive yet. under consideration are sandpaper, asphalt shingles, and paint with a bunch of sand sprinkled over it. I'm leaning toward the paint and sand option at the moment.

any experience or thoughts?

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Brice Moss

Posts: 700

Location: rainier OR

posted 15 years ago

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never seen mature goats play enough to wear em off
the kids might though i'd just keep my eye peeled for a big load or urbanite and have ti dumped in the middle of the pasture well away from the fence to give em lots of rocks to jump and play on if I were going to try it

tel jetson

steward

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Location: woodland, washington

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posted 15 years ago

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hmm. these goats aren't terribly playful, but they do like to stand on the boxes I built. I ended up painting them after mixing sand into the paint. only cost me a couple hours to build and paint the things, so I won't be too upset if they don't work at all.

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Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

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Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

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Goats will climb a spiral-shaped tower, if it seems worth the effort to build one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goat_Tower

I guess it might be easier to build them a shed high up in an existing structure, with a long staircase up to it.

I would recommend silicon carbide, AKA corundum. They sell coarse SiC "sand" to put in ashtrays, due to its thermal conductivity. It's also commonly dusted over pavement as an anti-slip surface; you'll notice it often because the pavement glitters in the sun.

[re-reads latest post]

But it sounds like you've already built boxes, and they're working! Glad to hear it.

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tel jetson

steward

Posts: 3718

Location: woodland, washington

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posted 15 years ago

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it just so happens that I have some lapidary grit hanging around that I believe is SiC, though it might be too fine. if the sand layer wears off quickly and isn't effective, maybe I'll try that for the next round. it wasn't cheap, though.

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Joel Hollingsworth

pollinator

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Location: Oakland, CA

posted 15 years ago

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If you have another use for the lapidary grit, I'd recommend saving it.

The stuff for ashtrays & pavement is cheap, because it doesn't need to be sifted to a controlled size.

Emil Spoerri

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Posts: 426

posted 15 years ago

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I have had my goats in three places now, and all of them either had a gravel or cement driveway, which the goats used as their main path around the properties. Does a pretty shipshape job til winter rolls around, then I have to get to trimming.

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