Restoring A Bubbling Hoof For The Bull! — Transcript

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1. 0:00This incredibly sore front [music] left
2. 0:02foot belongs to a very young Holstein
3. 0:04bull. And in this video, I'm hoping we
4. 0:08can completely heal it or at least set
5. 0:10it on the road to recovery.
6. 0:12>> [music]
7. 0:17[singing]
8. 0:22[singing]
9. 0:25[music]
10. 0:30>> So this young [music] dairy bull is
11. 0:32around 18 months old and as we can all
12. 0:34see, he has a deep crack [music] right
13. 0:37around the heel bulb of this foot. You
14. 0:39can actually see some pasty white fluid
15. 0:42oozing out the back of that crack.
16. 0:45Grabbing the grinder, I don't actually
17. 0:47need to remove very much material at
18. 0:49all. [music]
19. 0:50His feet are not overgrown. They're
20. 0:52actually very well kept. All I'm doing
21. 0:55is preparing this outer or lateral claw
22. 0:58ready [music] for wooden block to be
23. 1:00glued in position. That far away claw is
24. 1:03[music] clearly very sore, but we're
25. 1:05going to need to get it up off the
26. 1:07ground if we're going to provide [music]
27. 1:09him with any relief whatsoever.
28. 1:12So once I'm finished with the grinder, I
29. 1:14grab [music] one of my specialist hoof
30. 1:16trimming knives
31. 1:17and begin the arduous task of peeling
32. 1:20away this incredibly tough hoof horn
33. 1:23from the heel of this foot.
34. 1:25I'm going to work my way from the heel
35. 1:27all the way down to the tip of his toe
36. 1:30being as careful but as thorough as I
37. 1:33possibly can.
38. 1:38>> [music]
39. 1:45[music]
40. 2:00>> The problem I'm trying to heal is
41. 2:02obvious, but the extent of it is not.
42. 2:05>> [music]
43. 2:06>> I know this hole will probably link up
44. 2:08with the heel of his foot. So, my aim
45. 2:10right now is to remove that material and
46. 2:13then keep reassessing the foot as I go,
47. 2:16trimming away what I believe would be
48. 2:19beneficial for this bull and leaving
49. 2:21what is perfectly fine.
50. 2:39Because this hoof horn is translucent,
51. 2:41I'm able to read the hoof. I'm able to
52. 2:44understand which parts are detached and
53. 2:47which parts are still attached.
54. 2:49Looking from this angle, you can see
55. 2:52there is still an awful lot of hoof horn
56. 2:55still to be removed.
57. 2:57But even once these layers have gone,
58. 3:00there is still more to go.
59. 3:02The bubbles that have just appeared as I
60. 3:04pressed his sole are a telltale sign of
61. 3:06that.
62. 3:07There can only be bubbles if there's a
63. 3:10cavity underneath where they're coming
64. 3:13from.
65. 3:17There's a track underneath this part of
66. 3:19hoof horn, and that's what I'm
67. 3:21concentrating on right now.
68. 3:23To me, this is an definite There's a
69. 3:25really good part of his foot to continue
70. 3:28working on.
71. 3:37The sludge coming out of that hole
72. 3:39absolutely stinks.
73. 3:41I've trimmed cows' feet for well over a
74. 3:43decade now,
75. 3:45and I do get used to it, but some of
76. 3:47them hit harder than others.
77. 3:50I'm now working on the axial wall of
78. 3:52this inner claw, trying to get rid of
79. 3:54that detached hoof horn. There's a hard
80. 3:57line, and that hard line means that I
81. 3:59haven't quite gotten rid of everything
82. 4:01that's detached.
83. 4:03But, I work my way around the hoof,
84. 4:05reanalyzing constantly, trying to decide
85. 4:08where I need to go deeper,
86. 4:10trying to understand what's going on
87. 4:12that we can't quite see now.
88. 4:14What is going on underneath these
89. 4:16external layers of hoof horn?
90. 4:19Well, if you stick around for a few
91. 4:21seconds or more,
92. 4:23you're just about to find out.
93. 4:32She flinches in discomfort as I press
94. 4:34this part of her horn.
95. 4:36I'm using a circular motion, I'm able to
96. 4:39uncover an incredibly sore part of this
97. 4:41lesion.
98. 4:49At the center of this problem, [music]
99. 4:51her foot is being attacked by digital
100. 4:53dermatitis, which is an incredibly
101. 4:55[music]
102. 4:56sore condition.
103. 4:57It may not look all that bad to you and
104. 4:59I, but to the cow, it is [music]
105. 5:02absolutely excruciating.
106. 5:08We're getting much closer to the end of
107. 5:10this trim now, so I decide to wash all
108. 5:13of it out so that we can all have a
109. 5:15really good look
110. 5:16>> [music]
111. 5:16>> at what we've achieved and at the real
112. 5:18mess of this foot.
113. 5:20Shortly, we're going to let this bull
114. 5:22out of the crush, and the way he walks
115. 5:25is a real disappointment for me.
116. 5:28I cannot convey to you enough how sore a
117. 5:31problem like this is to any animal.
118. 5:34Dermatitis is literally the inflammation
119. 5:37of the skin. His entire corium, the part
120. 5:39which actually constructs and grows the
121. 5:42hoof horn itself, is being attacked by
122. 5:44spirochetes, a type of treponema, which
123. 5:47we label as dermatitis. When you weigh
124. 5:50around 800 kg or around 1,800 lb, any
125. 5:55sort of problem on your foot can be
126. 5:58incredibly sore. Never mind that the
127. 6:00very fabric of what produces the hoof
128. 6:02horn for you being completely inflamed
129. 6:06and overrun with
130. 6:18In order for all of the hoof horn that
131. 6:20we've now removed to regrow, he needs to
132. 6:23be able to use this foot so that the
133. 6:25blood flow is increased, and that in
134. 6:27turn stimulates growth.
135. 6:30But, in order for him to use this foot,
136. 6:32he needs to be as close free as
137. 6:34possible, and that is the job of this
138. 6:37block.
139. 6:38The block is not just [music] there for
140. 6:40the relief. It's there so that he can
141. 6:42use this foot, and in turn, the blood
142. 6:45flow will increase to this part of his
143. 6:47body, allowing him to fight that
144. 6:49and to regrow the hoof horn, which is
145. 6:51essential for him to be comfortable. All
146. 6:54we do now
147. 6:55>> [music]
148. 6:55>> is spray the lesion with liquefied
149. 6:57copper and zinc to topically treat the
150. 7:00problem.
151. 7:01And then, it's time to [music] let him
152. 7:03go.
153. 7:08He is definitely not walking
154. 7:11fantastically,
155. 7:12but he is using the [music] block, and
156. 7:14I'm hoping over the next few days that
157. 7:17rapid dermatitis will do its stuff,
158. 7:19and this bull will genuinely be
159. 7:22on his road to a full recovery.