Hoof trimming for effective health management: What cattle farmers need to know

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.