HOOF-TRIMMING CRUSH
17 March 2000
HOOF-TRIMMING CRUSH
IN AUTOMATIC STYLE…
Time-saving mechanisation
can be applied to just about
any farm operation, it
seems. Peter Hill reports
on a contractors automated
hoof-trimming crush
WITH one flick of a hydraulic control lever, cows entering Mike Channings hoof-trimming crush are held safe and secure.
The head yoke is closed by hydraulic ram; another hydraulic cylinder glides a belly belt into place. Flick another lever and the whole structure tilts, lifting the cow off her feet until she is laid gently on her side. Chain the legs, and shes ready for a routine pedicure!
"Its made a huge difference to productivity, as well as making the job easier and a little more pleasant," says Mike Channing of his device. "With a conventional hoof crush, strapping and lifting each leg individually, you end up walking round the cow the whole time. I could only get through perhaps 15 to 20, whereas I can now do as many as 50 on a really good day."
Productivity (balanced with spending as much time as each cow needs to see her feet right) is clearly important; first, to make the job pay a decent return; second, to cope with a workload that could have Mr Channing working seven days a week, all year round if he wished.
After milking and managing cows for some 20 years, a change of scene and self-employment beckoned. So just under six years ago, he set-up as a mobile hoof trimming contractor from his home at Crayke near York.
Looking after cows feet meant he could work independently while still drawing on his herd management experience.
"Its amazing how the condition of cows feet can tell you a lot about the way they are managed," he says. "Problems can arise from the cows environment and even too much protein in the diet, as well as physical causes such as every day bumps and scrapes."
Problems can arise from too much protein in the diet to insufficient bedding in straw yards or poorly designed or maintained cubicles.
The potential for lameness, and the importance of easy mobility to the performance of dairy cows, only serves to emphasise the importance of a regular programme of foot care, Mike Channing reckons.
"Its preventive maintenance; a cow thats lame wont eat or milk as well, and problems can cost a lot to put right," he says. "Keep the feet in trim and you can avoid a lot of the problems and lost production that goes with them."
Regular clients like Paul Craft at Crosses Farm, Harwood Dale near Scarborough, North Yorks call on his services as cows are dried off or when heifers, having produced their first calves, are about to join the milking herd.
"Keeping those two-year-olds right is especially important," says Mike Channing. "They have a complete change of routine, walking on hard concrete in the parlour and perhaps moving out of straw yards into cubicles. Its as well to make sure their feet are in good enough shape to cope."
Management
Paul Craft agrees: "A cow with a foot problem just isnt happy, they cant get up easily in the cubicles and they are not inclined to get up to go to the feed bunk. Its something that has to have proper management and attention."
Welfare codes laid down in milk buyer contracts are another incentive to have cows feet attended to regularly and its as much to show evidence of this as anything that customers get a full report of what Mike Channing has found and what has been done on each visit.
"Its useful for the customer to be kept informed, because they are not always around when the works done, and it provides useful welfare records," says Mike Channing.
Tools of the trade include paring knives and an electric grinder – not of the DIY variety but with purpose designed discs for trimming and shaping hooves. And that crush, built by Leyburn, Yorks-based agricultural engineer John Thistlethwaite.
"I had it built on to a trailer, complete with its own electric motor to power the hydraulics, so that it can be towed around easily," explains Mike Channing. "With this outfit, I can turn up, set-up and get on with the job single-handed."
Apart from the convenience of being presented with all four feet in a position that makes them easy to work on, an advantage of the equipment, he reckons, is that farmer customers can get a proper look at any problems.
"I think it helps them understand the nature of the different problems that can affect cows feet and perhaps what can be done to avoid them or put them right," Mr Channing. "Normally, you only get to see a cows feet from above – and thats not going to tell you much at all." *
Left: Mike Channing trims feet at Crosses Farm, Harwood Dale near Scarborough, East Yorkshire, home to the 150-head Craft Moor Holsteins.
Below:Paul Craft: "Im confident the jobs going to be done properly and without problems."