Professional Hoof Trimmer
Our Professional Hoof Trimmer Course is designed to provide the skills and knowledge required to enable participants to develop a career as Professional Hoof Trimmers.
If you’d like us to contact you regarding our upcoming course dates, you can simply register your interest and we’ll be in touch.
Day One
Morning – Starting at 9:45am
- Welcome and introduction
- Anatomy of the bovine foot
- Rationale behind the trimming of feet
- Common lesions of the bovine foot
- 5 Step Dutch Method of foot trimming
- Practical demonstration of 5 Step Dutch Method of hoof trimming
Afternoon
- Practical hoof trimming on live cows
Day Two
Morning
Equipment and tools required for hoof trimming
Safe use of knives and grinders
Knife sharpening skills
Introduction to Mobility Scoring
- Practical hoof trimming
Practical hoof trimming on live cows
Practical Mobility Scoring
Day Three
Morning
- Manual handling and avoiding injury
- Cow welfare and the impact of impaired mobility on same
- Practical hoof trimming on live cows
Day Four
Morning
- Cost of lameness to farmers and to the industry
- Prevention of lameness at farm level
- Footbaths and control of infectious causes of lameness
- Roadways and farm infrastructure
- Achieving good cow flow on dairy farms
- Cow handling skills
Noon
- Practical hoof trimming
Afternoon
- Practical session covering roadways and general farm infrastructure
- Lameness risk assessment on a dairy farm
Day Five (Refresher At A Later Date)
Morning
- Refresher and review
Afternoon
Mobility Scoring
Cow Flow
Farm walk reviewing farm infrastructure.
Questions, answers and feedback opportunity.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
Recognise lameness and grade severity.
Understand the basic anatomy of the bovine foot.
Know how to restrain a cow and pick up a foot using a hoof crate.
Understand the 5 steps of the Dutch Method of hoof trimming and apply those to prevent lameness conditions.
Trim feet effectively and efficiently.
Recognise the main diseases leading to lameness.
Know how to apply blocks to alleviate pressure on affected claw.
Know how to use Mobility Score as an aid to manage herd lameness.
Understand the main risk factors contributing to lameness on farms.
Advise farmers on the most appropriate foot bathing regime to use.