Overgrown hooves

[Duncraggan]

Two young Shorthorn cows of mine have overgrown back hooves.  Ages 40 months and 33 months.  Only third case ever for me in ten years of pedigree cattle breeding, the first was a cow of approximately 8 years at the beginning of the year.  None are related in any way to each other, in fact, the 8-year old was a bought in cow.

None have had any sign of weak pasterns although they seem to have shallow heels, possibly due to the overgrown hooves?  The older cow seemed to lose condition, weaned a substandard calf and was sold, together with her heifer calf at weaning.

Both these current two younger cows are not in too bad condition, albeit that they are receiving some supplementary protein and energy as they are first calvers.  The one has a very good heifer AI calf, the other a below-average AI bull calf.  I still have both their dams, 6 and 7 years old, without the same problem.

I am a grass based producer, only a phosphate lick is given in normal years.  I started to give my first calf cows and the late calving cows a supplement this year to get them bred back faster and so that I can shorten my breeding season to 65 days from 75 last year and over 90 days the previous year.  I don't believe the supplementation is the cause.

Should I sell the cows and their progeny, or keep the very good calf and only sell the rest to the abattoir?  Could this problem maybe correct itself?  Trimming hooves is not an option!

Some opinions would be very welcome!  Thanks.

 

[justintime]

Two young Shorthorn cows of mine have overgrown back hooves.  Ages 40 months and 33 months.  Only third case ever for me in ten years of pedigree cattle breeding, the first was a cow of approximately 8 years at the beginning of the year.  None are related in any way to each other, in fact, the 8-year old was a bought in cow.

None have had any sign of weak pasterns although they seem to have shallow heels, possibly due to the overgrown hooves?  The older cow seemed to lose condition, weaned a substandard calf and was sold, together with her heifer calf at weaning.

Both these current two younger cows are not in too bad condition, albeit that they are receiving some supplementary protein and energy as they are first calvers.  The one has a very good heifer AI calf, the other a below-average AI bull calf.  I still have both their dams, 6 and 7 years old, without the same problem.

I am a grass based producer, only a phosphate lick is given in normal years.  I started to give my first calf cows and the late calving cows a supplement this year to get them bred back faster and so that I can shorten my breeding season to 65 days from 75 last year and over 90 days the previous year.  I don't believe the supplementation is the cause.

Should I sell the cows and their progeny, or keep the very good calf and only sell the rest to the abattoir?  Could this problem maybe correct itself?  Trimming hooves is not an option!

Some opinions would be very welcome!  Thanks.

By overgrown hooves, do you mean that the claws on their back feet have grown excessively long , or is this a situation where the feet are poorly shaped and as a result they have started to have the toes starting to curl upwards?  Not that it really matters, but I was just trying to just get a bit better idea of what the problem was.  I find it a bit unusual for this to be happening on females that are this young, as they should just be entering their prime production years. I think that feet structure is extremely important , just as udder shape and teat size, and I do not have much tolerance for either issue. I have, on a very few occasions, given a good producing female a " second chance" so to speak, and have had her feet corrected by trimming them. I can only think of 2 cows in the last 20 years who have had their feet trimmed. In both cases, the trimming helped for awhile and then the feet got bad again. They were NOT trimmed a second time.  Both of these cows were at least 8 years old, which seems to be a different issue than females that are just approaching 3 years of age.  IMO, I think there is probably a genetic component to this problem, but there may also be an environmental component as well. In  any event, I think it is a serious problem and I would start by removing these two cows from your herd. If I could see any potential issues developing in their offspring, I would remove them as well, but if nothing appeared unusual with the offspring, I would give them some more time and see if they inherited anything or if it was a problem caused by something else.

Likewise, I refuse to work with cows with poorly shaped teats or udders. If a newborn calf has a problem finding a teat, I will help it get one nursed out, only so the cow can raise the calf until weaning, but she is destined for a trip to the abbatoir. I never milk a cow out if the calf doesn't suck all quarters. That plug in the end of the teat is Mother Nature way of protecting the udder from infection. I know of many well known producers who routinely milk out heavy milking cows, thinking that they are doing her a favor. I think they are totally nuts!  If a cows udder blows up because I did not milk her out, well, that is just another reason she should not be in my herd.

 

[Okotoks]

If you mean long toes that don't wear down then I would suspect shallow heals. If there is soft wet ground it can prevent the feet from wearing down naturally. I have also found the darker red feet are harder and wear better than some of the whiter light coloured feet. Low or shallow heels could definitely be the cause which would mean culling here. We just sent off a very good cow with white feet that grew too long.

 

[leanbeef]

I may be wrong about this, but I tend to believe hoof shape and condition is a product of both genetics and environment in every case. Think about it akin to disposition...every animal has a genetic make-up which predisposes them to perform in an individual way given certain environmental factors. Even cattle with the same genetics don't necessarily react the same way to the same management or environmental factors. We control and influence what we can, and we manage the rest, usually as a reaction to what doesn't go the way we'd particularly like it to go.

We don't trim feet. Not to say we never have, but that is not a practice we have ever considered to be part of our routine herd management. In the couple of cases that we have done it, that has been been a short-term solution to a terminal issue. There are a lot of different opinions about what causes feet problems, and probably just as many opinions about how to address them. With no way of really knowing what contribution genetics plays and how much effect environment has had in these particular situations, all you can do is assess and manage the situations as best you can, and then use the information you have to make your own breeding and management decisions based on that information.

I would probably keep the heifer calf unless you have other reasons not to. As far the others, I don't see the feet problems going away. So ask yourself, is this something you're willing to manage? Does it affect her ability to do her job? How concerned are you about the possibility that these traits are more genetic than environmental?

 

[obie105]

This fall for the first time ever I had a couple cows get some long toes. No curling or anything just long. I left them alone and in the course of the next month after I noticed them it seemed like they had either wore down or broke off and were totally back to normal.

 

[blackdiamond]

I have one cow who needs a yearly foot trimming, only b/c she was foundered as a calf and has not been normal since. 

the white footed clause, is true as anything.  white toes grow almost twice as fast as dark; not sure why, and not sure if science backs that up.

 

[Duncraggan]

Merry Christmas to you all!

Thank you for some really sound advice.

Took some pictures of the 40-month old cow's hooves yesterday when she was going past the lick trough, just out of interest.  Couldn't see the other one's feet in the grass.

Obie105, we are entering the hot and dry season now and there is still a period of three months until weaning and getting the vet to PD the cows.  The younger cow was bulling yesterday so is probably in calf.  The other is also probably in calf as she is in better condition.  I will not breed them again and will sell if the rest of the herd has good conception, which should be the case as we have had an above average season so far and I need to reduce numbers slightly.  If their hooves are normal by that time, they are in calf, and they still have decent weaning calves, they will be given a reprieve!

Leanbeef, I am also concerned about bringing a problem into the herd and feel it should be nipped in the bud at this early stage while still infrequent.  They will earn a black mark next to their names and be the first to go, all other factors being equal!

I feel the same way about bottle teats JIT and have the same policy as you do.  The best autumn 2012 heifer calf is out of a cow that only has three quarters after an injury two years ago!  She keeps her place in the herd by still (regularly) producing an above average calf since the injury.

 

[leanbeef]

I believe this is a case of corkscrew claw... I have a female that has just started showing the same signs. The condition affects the outside back claw as well as the inside front claw, and information it contradictory as to how large the genetic component is. It doesn't really show up until an animal is around 4 years old. My best fall yearling bull--this cow's first calf--has signs of corkscrew claw, making me think it was inherited from his mother. I sent him to the sale barn. She has another nice bull calf this year that i'll probably cut and not invest the time & feed in to see if he's also affected.

There is a considerable amount of information about corkscrew claw, also called screw claw. But like I said, not all the research or information supports the same conclusion.