Читать книгу Raising Goats For Dummies - Cheryl K. Smith - Страница 39

A hoof is the horny sheath that covers the lower part of a goat’s foot and is divided into two parts. Goats stand on their hooves and walk on them to get around, which makes them extremely important.

When something goes wrong with a hoof, the rest of the musculoskeletal system is affected, which can cause pain, limping, lameness, and a shorter lifespan.

Because they don’t like to stand in one place to eat, goats don’t do well if they have to lie around or walk on their knees. (Yes, knees.) I recently saw goats on television whose owners had fed them well but apparently hadn’t trimmed their hooves for years. (Chapter 9 tells you how to trim hooves.) The goats’ hooves were almost a foot long and curled up at the ends. Consequently, many of them couldn’t even walk, and others walked on their knees, dragging their rear feet. That had to hurt!

Untrimmed hooves make a goat prone to foot scald or rot, which can ultimately kill a goat. (See Chapter 11 for more on foot rot.) Goats’ hooves do best in dry, rocky climates. Goats that are feral or were feral for years, such as the Spanish goat, need less hoof care than closely bred, farmed goats.

A proper goat hoof is rhomboid-shaped (not rectangular, but slightly longer in the front than in the back) and has no overgrowth on the sides or front. Trim your goats hooves regularly to ensure that they maintain this shape.