09/08/2026
Shared with owners permission. This is for educational purposes, not an opening for rudeness and judgement. Rude or judgmental comments will be deleted and you will be removed from page.
This is a hoof capsule shed by very loved cow. She was out on pasture, started walking “funny”. She was monitored then brought inside. Makes sense. Called their vet which they were “fortunate” to have had. They instructed the owners to find someone who trims hooves to take a look before they’d see the cow. Ok, makes SOME sense. They looked for a few days for someone who could come out on a fairly emergent basis.
I could come out the day after they reached out to me, but this cow needed intensive supplies I didn’t have at the time. I got a custom hoof block made just in case. I told the owner based on pictures that I believed her hoof would be hot, leg was swollen, and that there was rot. I was warned by another trimmer it may come off. I was mortified by the suggestion. Fully transparent with the owner we began.
We got to it and the first 3 hooves went well. She was so uncomfortable she just let me do my job. On her final hoof, the bad one, I worked slowly and carefully. She didn’t particularly like it and made one good, swift and hard kick and off came her hoof. This went from mild emergency to big emergency. Called vet back. This is also MY vet. The doc on call more or less told the owner to 💩 in her hands and clap. Nothing they could or would do. What he should’ve said is that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with what recovering looks like. Neither did anyone else; as many of you know vets don’t take new clients on emergency basis. So you’re screwed.
What started as a 5pm appointment turned into hauling her from Berwick to Buxton to be butchered at 9pm. She was the last cow the owners great grandfather had bred to be born on the farm. Absolutely devastating blow. Went from being a breeder to the freezer. An absolutely gorgeous Hereford. Her owners did every right thing including not asking that poor girl to continue suffering. They grow back their hoof capsule at CENTIMETERS per MONTH.
If your cow is lame you need to call someone IMMEDIATELY and keep calling til you find help. It literally is the difference between life and death. If she had been looked at even just a couple days earlier she could’ve had a shot. And that wasn’t their fault.
Be proactive and know what to watch for. Check your cattle. Vaccinate your cattle. The cracks that allowed the rot bacteria in were very small, I’ve seen much worse separations be far less serious and I’ve been able to work through them to a healthy hoof in one apt. It’s worth it. Trim your cows hooves even if the guy before you didn’t! It’s IMPORTANT.