Tremont 4-H Club Learns How to Trim a Goat’s Feet

Goat Meeting at Havlin Farms
By Kristina Fink

On Feb. 2, 2011, the Tremont Goat Project Group went to a goat meeting at Havlin Farms in Dixon. Out of all of the goat meetings I have gone to, this one was, by far, the best.

We learned how to trim, shave, and smooth out a goat’s hooves.  The goat’s hooves I trimmed were rough, jagged, and not level.  By the time I was done with her, her hooves were outstanding looking. 

Our goat leader, Daniel, was very pleased with all of us when we were done.  The best part is, in the future, I will be able to trim my own goat’s hooves.

That is what happened on Feb. 2, 2011 at the Tremont 4-H Group goat meeting.

Goat Nail Trimming
By Gabi Alcantara

On Wednesday, Feb. 2 the goat group had their meeting.  We focused on trimming a goat’s toe nail.  First we watched a video which explained how to trim a goat’s nail.  

The best part of the meeting was the hands on part when we got to trim the nails on the goats.  Daniel Havlin, our project leader, showed us that the white squishy part was the quick and we should trim up to that spot. If we accidentally cut the quick it will bleed a lot. In order to stop the bleeding we can use "quick stop" which is a white powdery stuff.

 The trimming part was exciting. My first cut was nerve-racking, but it was really fun and educating.  After I trimmed the nails, I took a big nail file to make the nail smooth. The file looked like a big cheese grater. Overall the meeting was very fun and informational.