Optimizing cattle health through proper hoof care: Essential guidelines for farmers

Abstract

Cattle is one of the animals raised by animal farmers for income generation from milk and meat. This 
study was carried out to identify the practices required by farmers in hoof trimming for effective health 
management of cattle. The objectives of the study were to identify the practises required by farmers in 
planning for, preventive, curative, and the materials for hoof trimming of cattle. The study adopted 
descriptive survey research design and was carried out in The Netherlands. The population for the 
study was 38 comprising of 13 lecturers of animal science, 11 veterinary doctors, 10 extension agents 
and 4 hoof trimmers. There was no sampling because of the manageable size of the population. The 
instrument for data collection was a 45 item structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated 
by three experts in the dairy training centre. Data were collected by the researchers and analysed using 
mean and standard deviation. Findings from the study showed that a balanced hoof and proper body 
posture are the primary desired results of hooves trimming, for both routine or preventive approach, 
using the right tools. Findings further revealed that effective hooves trimming requires such activity 
based skills which needs to be hought to cattle keepers for effective animal health management The 
study therefore recommended that the identified techniques should be utilized in training of extension 
agents through workshop, and the farmers in a town hall meeting to make them effective in hoof 
trimming of their cattle in Nigeria.