Maintaining your pig's or goat's hooves is vital for their conformation and helps to prevent arthritis later in life. Here's how it works: Tendons attaching from the elbow down through the long pastern, short pastern and to the coffin bone come under tension when the animal walks with it's heels too close to the ground. The constant tension pulls on the elbow joint causing a gap which is then fil
led in by bone calcification. Calcification is what happens when the bone tries to repair itself by depositing calcified boney fragments into open spaces. However, calicification deposits are not smooth nor easy for tendons to slide against, causing pain in the joint (arthritis), combined with pain along the leg from the over-stretched tendon. Eventually, joints can fuse together; and many elderly pigs' lives are cut short by elbow and hip dysplasia. Due to their domesticity and the nature of the soft, damp soil here in the Pacific Northwest, they are unable to wear their hooves down naturally and need assistance.
