Encouraging best foot-trimming practice

Cattle producers will soon be able to have more access to highly trained, category one foot trimmers.

The National Association of Cattle Foot Trimmers (NACFT) is on a drive to increase the number of its highest category trimmers.

Speaking to Farmers Weekly at the National Cattle Mobility Event, the organisation’s treasurer Andrew Tyler said the aim was to increase the number of the most highly skilled category one trimmers from 60% of their registered members to 90%.

Category one trimmers are trained in the five-step Dutch technique, have passed a diploma examination and attend biennial continuing assessments.

“We want to encourage our category two and three trimmers to gain more training and become registered as category one,” said Mr Tyler.

This move emphasises the NACFT’s endorsement of category one trimmers as best practice and reflects some supermarket requirements for cows to only be trimmed by these higher trained trimmers.

“We encourage farmers to undertake routine mobility scoring and foot trimming to reduce the number of score three cows presented to the trimmer,” he said.

“As the only national body in the EU to hold a register of cattle foot trimmers declaring their level of qualification, our aim is to maximise animal welfare and allow farmers to get more for their money.”