Thelma and Louise are our 2 oldest Highland Cows (they will soon be 20 years old!) and because they are a bit slower and creakier than the youngsters, we have to trim their feet more often. This is because they don’t wear them down as quickly as the younger cows as they walk about. We book a farm animal vet to come from Dick Vet Farm Animal Practice just down the road, who arrives with a mobile cattle crush. This is a special safety unit which is a bit like an open-sided trailer that we walk the cows in to, then shut them in front and back. This means that the vet can work on their feet from outside the unit, without risk of being injured by the cows’ horns, legs or feet. A support strap is attached around the belly of the cow to help them weight-bare whilst one foot a time is winched up using another strap so that the vet can inspect the foot, trim and file down the toes. Cow’s feet grow constantly (a bit like human toe nails and finger nails, horse’s feet, dog claws, etc) so the tips of these are trimmed to allow the cow to stand and walk comfortably. The cows tolerate this procedure very well and patiently wait until all 4 feet have been attended to, before we open the front and back of the crush again and the cow will then walk out or reverse out (whichever they prefer) and we then get the next one in. Thelma and Louise always get given a wee bucket of cattle feed afterwards as a little treat.
