Artiodactyls trimmer

Dropped the Jeep off at the village garage & hope it will be fixed by Tuesday when the owner sets off for a months holiday. Took the opportunity to walk home with Luna, first having to negotiate the village which he seldom ever gets to reconnoitre. Have to stop at every bush, lamp post or wall.

Passed this smart van & trailer combination belonging to a villager, a self-employed "Klauenpfleger" - Hoof Trimmer for cattle. The trailer is the modern form of cattle "crush", all hydraulically controlled. The webpage shown on the equipment does not have any examples of the work but the owner has a few videos uploaded on YouTube that make it clear how it works.

The website shows the price list with a cow costing €11 for a pedicure but small herds of under 25 get it for €8 which at least helps to overcome the one-time visit costs of mileage & post work equipment cleaning.

I'm not sure if he does other even-toed animals - sheep, goats, pigs, deer etc but I doubt it, nor odd-toed animals such as horses. The law in Germany is I suspect very much like in the UK where simply trimming animals hooves can be carried out by anyone but shoeing a horse with metal shoes requires a qualification. The law has been changed in the last decade or so & I can't remember if nailing plastic shoes requires a qualification and the old stipulation that a farrier could only start the 3-year apprenticeship after he had completed an apprenticeship in a metalworking occupation.

I have no idea how often cows need a trim. Sadly we still have large numbers of 24/7 chained up cows that never get the chance to wear down their hooves. I suspect it's still only one or twice a year. Horses are generally done every 8-10 weeks & the costs of just trimming are considerably more, probably up to €40 & a trim with a set of new shoes can cost up to €150 & that about 5 times a year!

Our county Unterallgäu has the highest number of cattle in Bavaria with around 140,000 belonging to 1,600 farmers. I suspect the most trimming is done just on milk cows & the average herd size in the county is around 50 per farmer. So I suspect Mr Kunert has enough work.