Critter feet

Question:
What do horses, bunnies, sheep, goats, and donkeys and dogs all have in common?

The homesteader has to be able to work on their feet.

Yes in order to care for each of the above animals you must become a veterinary podiatrist.
and to know what you are doing you , generally look at the young of the animal who you are working with and try to make your grown animal's hoof look like that of the baby animal only bigger.

This is accomplished through the use of sharp shears with goats and sheep and nippers and rasps in the case of equines and clippers for dogs and rabbits.

Its sad to see animals in a pasture with very overgrown hooves that curl up like elves shoes or sheep or goats whose hoofs cross and twist causing them agony with each step.

Sometimes you will buy an animal - hopefully at a deep discount - who had had foot problems and needs to be treated with a major trimming . The way to accomplish this is to take small portions at a time because hoofs that overgrown have nerves in them and just as much harm can be done by trying take too much at once as from not trimming at all.

Everyone who ever trims hooves will sometimes get a little too much of  bite with the nippers and the blood will start pouring. This is a heartbreaking moment and there is a lot of blood in a horse donkey or goat so a little bit wont hurt much. It is possible to patch a broken or overly cut hoof temporarily with autobody filler but only after cleaning the area extra well. Most instances you are ahead to let them bleed and heal on their own.

      Hoof rot or scald is a condition where mud manure and trash gets forced betweenthe toes  or up into the sole of a hooved animal and bactera grows inside the tightly compacted area. This bactera eats the goats tissues, hoof or skin and causes a terrible limp and pain and a rotten odor. There are many commercially available cures for this condition but dry pastures, clipping awa of the infected hoof and cleaning infected flesh with an antiseptic causes much relief up to completely healing the infection. I have seen peopel treat this condition in Horses by trimming the effected feet and picking out s much of the dirt and compacted material as possible and then soaking the feet in a pan of clorine bleach.

Hoof rot is somewhat contagious because the same bacteria can be spread through the pasture and all animals in similar conditions can be similarly infected.