Cattle hoof trimming

[Decker]

I am looking into starting to do cattle hoof trimming in and around central Alberta if anyone knows if there is a demand for this and what the going rate is for a cow, any information would be appreciated.

 

[jkvikefan]

I started trimming feet 6 yrs ago. Lots of HARD work. Be sure you know what you're getting into before you invest a lot of money in a high priced Trimming chute.On the days you work the pay is pretty good , but the days you are home with no job ,don't pay worth a darn. The chute people can paint a pretty rosy picture, but they're not the ones lining up work for you. Now I work 5-6 days a week. When I got started it was 1-2 days a week.
Would I do it again??? Not so sure. Home doing chores in my little calf feeding enterprise is sure alot more fun than looking at sore footed cows all day!! And that's about all you see all day long... Sore footed cows.

 

[Shelly]

We just did some cows last Saturday, 9 head at $22 a head. Around here, hoof trimmers are few and far between. The guy we get is ALWAYS busy!

 

[Denny]

I just sell any cow with bad feet.

 

[Mike]

I just sell any cow with bad feet.

Lots of people do.

It depends with me.

If a cow is on a soft piece of ground and the hoof doesn't get worn down at the same rate it has grown is not fair to the cow though.

I can see a need for a hoof trimmer.

The vet school charges $65 to put one on the table.

Lot's of people get their bulls feet trimmed about a month before breeding to make sure his hoof structure is sound.

 

[lazy ace]

Are you in a big Dairy area? I am not sure but I would say they would be steady business. An old race horse buddy of Grandpa's said he did a lot of dairy cows and he went to an angus breeder west of hear pretty regularly. They had a retirement sale a couple of years back. That guy said a dairy bull tore up his chute beyond repair so he went to trucking.

have a cold one

lazy ace

 

[CattleArmy]

I have an aquaintance in Oregon that started a hoof trimming business for dairy cattle. He makes $5 a head and works for one Dairy. He is a hydrolic lift system so the cow goes in the chute and then it lays on the side. Seems to make hard work a lot easier. With his system he does a couple hundred cows a day. He makes his total income trimming cows for the one dairy. Seems like when they are in demand the trimmers can more then support themselves. Just my thoughts.

 

[Decker]

Thanks for all the info, there are a few dairy farms around so I will keep looking into it a bit more.