FOOT PROBLEMS IN HIGHLANDS

The breed has been hounded by feet problems since coming to Australia, but slowly, ever so slowly, these problems are being improved with appropriate genetic selection.

As bad as it gets with Highland Feet.	As good as it gets with Highland feet.

The primary problem stems from being weak in the pasterns causing reduced wear of the toe of the hoof. The end result of this is long toes and in some instances, long, broad feet. Now some breeders are more concerned about this apparent problem than others, and this is an individual preference. As some Highlands' feet can get very long over the years, and we do not want to be trimming their feet all the time, we believe that it is up to us as the care-takers of the breed to select heavily against this trait.

If our objective is to try to improve the commercial image of the breed in Australia, along side size and muscling, good feet must be up most in our minds. If our objective is to have low maintenance cattle to serve the hobby farm market, then we should try to improve feet. If our primary goal is beef production, then while you don't eat their feet and they are killed prior to bad feet causing any major harm to the animal, breeding stock need to have good feet to be able to continue to produce calves comfortably until they are 20 years old or so.

What Factors Affect Feet:

1) Genetics - the foremost reason and the one that we can easily act upon. Even the most magnificent bull is of no use to the breed in Australia today if he does not have good feet.
2) Nutrition - we have noticed that show feeding cattle not only improves general growth and condition of the animal, but can see their feet grow longer as well. While this won't cause a good footed animal to have bad feet, it will often make them look worse.  Conversely, the animal that is poorly fed can end up appearing to have better feet.
3) Environmental - the firmness of the ground can have a significant bearing. Animals walking around on soft, wet ground most of the year (doesn't happen much these days!), especially when locked up in smaller paddocks, appear to have  longer hooves. The same animals on hard, dry or even rocky ground, where they have to walk long distances each day, will appear to have better feet. We have seen cattle with long feet moved onto hilly, rocky country into large paddocks where they have to walk long distances to graze and to get to water, and their feet look fantastic after 6-12 months.

Now there may also be other nutritional factors that influence the strength of keratin in the hooves of cattle. There is some debate over these minerals and their influences on feet, but we are yet to see convincing evidence ourselves as to a significant relationship here, greater than that of genetics anyway. Having said this, we appreciate that there are other factors that affect feet in our cattle that we can not fully explain.

Long Feet

This is generally associated with weak pasterns. One could debate as to whether the weak pasterns come first or the long toes get so long that the pastern angle changes.  It can be seen from the side best and notably the pastern angle changes and the heel drops. Some talk about depth of heel - the greater the depth of heel (and so the better the pastern angle), the shorter the toes.

Sometimes front feet will be long with normal back feet, and other times back feet will be long (as with sickle hock conformation) and the front feet can potentially be quite good. For other (most in fact) animals with long feet, all four feet are affected.

Scissor Toes

This is a problem for many breeds but not as common as long toes in Highland cattle. I do not have any great photos of this problem but as you can imagine, it is associated with problems further up the leg again.  It is basically crossing over of the toes, often with one growing over the other.

Rolled Hoof Wall

An extension of the conformational problem that leads to scissor claw can also eventually cause this as well. The toe curls around so far that it eventually starts to rise up at the tip and twists, and the outer hoof wall rolls & ends up rolling under the hoof. This is often the lateral claw that does this & in this instance is associated with a toe-in leg conformation when seen from behind or in front. The opposite is true if the inside claw in affected.

This is a serious foot problem and associated with poor leg conformation, and these animals should not be bred with. They normally require regular hoof trimming to prevent lameness (yearly or every second year).

Vertical Cracks

These nearly always occur in the lateral claws of the front feet. Some animals appear to be prone to this defect and if it gets into the coronet (where hoof meets skin), then this can become a permanent defect. We have noticed that long dry seasons see more animals develop these cracks and for many, with or sometimes without corrective trimming, they will just grow out. The problem with vertical cracks is that they can allow infection into the sensitive tissues beneath the hoof wall and abscesses can form. These are often frustrating and difficult to treat.

While these do appear to happen more in certain animals, we are not convinced that they are a serious genetic fault. Others may have different ideas on this problem that we are happy to hear about.

 

Chipping of Feet

We have noted that most of our Highlands that end up having better feet, still have longer toes as youngsters (up to 18-24 months old) but that the tips of their toes will usually chip off if left alone. Our country is dry & rocky, and over time, the increased downward force on the tips of the toes provided by better pastern angles and good depth of heel, sees the ends of the toes simply crack across the hoof & drop off. This leaves a short hoof that will not give any problems thereafter.

This chipping of the tip of the feet often starts as a notch on the outside of the hoof wall (see photos below), then a horizontal crack develops, and eventually the terminal 3-5cm of hoof comes away. This process appears to happen in the driest time of year (summer for us), which makes sense, and the drier the period, the more likely it is to happen.

While this event does not seem to happen much in other breeds, nor in every environment, it is worthy of note and can be relied upon in some circumstances rather then calling in the hoof trimmer.

Good Feet

If you see a Highland with good feet, buy it! If you can't, analyse it's pedigree and try to get hold of some of those lines. While we must never select cattle on single traits (like feet alone, size, colour etc), this must be one of the main criteria we use in selection.

 

Trimming Feet

An angle grinder in the hands of an experienced foot trimmer will always see best results. This is normally done with the aid of a tipping table, but a vet with experience in this area can sedate the animal and drop them to the ground to allow the hooves to be trimmed. Some use hand tools as a Ferrier would use, with the animal in a crush with the feet hoisted with a pulley system. The feet should be left around 3 inches (7.5cm) long, which is normally just short of drawing blood.

Moderately long toes.	Same feet after trimming.

Summary:

Now, we certainly do not advocate culling every animal in your herd that has not got perfect feet. Some animals can have their feet trimmed a couple of times in their life and will get along fine. These animals, if bred to a good-footed bull, on average, will produce progeny with better feet. Single trait selection for good feet (like selecting for size alone or certain colours) can see you lose many of the characteristics that Highlands are renowned for - their meat quality, docility and breed character. Over 2-3 generations of using good footed bulls, however, most folds can see a vast improvement in their progeny's pastern angle and depth of heel.

In the end, if we select our stock wisely, we can get around most of these problems. If you are selecting a heifer or young bull, don't only look at this animal, try to inspect their sire and dam if at all possible. Highlands with good feet do exist, and choosing foundation females with good feet can take 5-10 years off your breeding program.