Soft Hooves

So both my does that kidded a little over 2 weeks ago now have soft hooves.  Both are walking fine (and even playing) and their feet are not hot.  Not sure what kind of problem, if any, I might be looking at.  They are not in mud (although outside is wet with rain, and their stalls have clean dry bedding. They are on a dairy ration I mix (whole barley, whole oats, sunflower seed) along with alfalfa pellets.  This was begun a few weeks before kidding in small portions and gradually built up to a cup of ration/cup of pellets am/pm.  They also receive free choice quality grass hay.  They look very healthy otherwise with shiny coats and good body condition.  One of them is an especially good mama and puts a lot of energy into producing milk and so I do have to give her ration or I notice a drop in weight (beyond the 'dairy' look).  Your thoughts would be appreciated!

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  • That sounds great! You can learn a lot from your goats by looking them over regularly.

  • I think I got it figured out. :)  The more I was thinking about it, the more it seemed like it might be related to the wetness (even though they weren't in mud.   Sure enough, a day or so after I posted this the weather got really nice and everything got dried out good and hooves were no longer soft.  It was mostly the back of each heel and they weren't squishy, just soft. 

    Good alfalfa (as in non-GMO) is hard to find in our area so the goats get organic, non-GMO alfalfa pellets instead.  They also get Thorvin kelp, vitalerbs, Redmond's Salt (loose), Kop-Sel, Fir Meadows wormers, and a number of other things to keep them in good condition.  Some are given free-choice, some are given in molasses balls, or sometimes both.  Everyone has nice pink eyelids, shiny coats, and healthy weights.  Does and kids are checked all over twice daily and bucks are looked over every day and once a week are handled to exam.  I'm always in a state of learning so I can keep improving management, but that's some of our protocol at the moment. :)

  • Most of what you've written sounds normal, except for the soft hooves. Can you explain what you mean? What exactly are you seeing and feeling?

    Also, you really should be giving alfalfa to does producing milk as it is high in calcium, which they really need. Are you also providing a free-choice, loose mineral?

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