Sheeps feet

[Laureninnes16]

I’m starting up a mobile foot trimming service for sheep. This will involve taking a tipping crate in the back of my van. Is there a price per head for this already?

 

[Laureninnes16]

If under a certain amount of sheep say-30 should it then be a Higher fee per head to make the journey worthwhile or instead changed to an hourly rate, possibly due to the fact that because they have a smaller number to do they might be worse than normal feet because they havnt been done meaning they will take longer to do?

or do it in ranks i.e
under 10
under 20
under 30
under 40
under 50
Then -> over 50 =set price per head

 

[Willie adie]

Id agree you have the same set up for every job be it big or small,also no doubt there will be the occasions when the sheep aren't in ready, so do you charge for assistance in penning them up? Do you just swallow it ,
Full marks to you quine nae a job I'd do from choice!!!

 

[Laureninnes16]

Thanks, just out of interest how much would you pay per head?

 

[Laureninnes16]

Id agree you have the same set up for every job be it big or small,also no doubt there will be the occasions when the sheep aren't in ready, so do you charge for assistance in penning them up? Do you just swallow it ,
Full marks to you quine nae a job I'd do from choice!!!

Thanks, just out of interest how much would you pay per head?

 

[Willie adie]

Per head im nae sure Ones with good feet wouldn't take long but rotten ones could be 3 or 4 Times longer, so you would need to factor that in too, are you supplying blue spray, and if they need Jag do you do that. All extra cost, it's maybe a suck it and see to start .
Me personally I'd be thinking £4 per head , aye you will get good ones will nip through but any run of shite ones will bog you down,
But hey quine don't take my word for it I'm sure there are others on here far better informed.
If you do start to do this let me know we are from the same area I will put the word out

 

[Wood field]

I would think you need to firstly cover your travel, do you have your own dogs , pens, race etc?
Are you aiming at small holder type flocks or big numbers ?
Personally I don’t trim them at all , any lame ewes are given a jab of zactran as they go through the race and repeat offenders culled , so say I brought our ewes in to the shed and walked them through the race , I certainly wouldn’t be tipping 600 up in a crate at £4 each
Sorry if it’s not the answer your looking for.
Maybe look at combining the feet with other jobs such as dagging or crovecting and sort any feet whilst there at an hourly rate

 

[Dry Rot]

Sorry to be a bore, but there is sure to be red tape. For example, is it legal to inject livestock belonging to others? I suspect it will be termed a 'veterinary procedure'. OK to jab your own sheep, but maybe not to jab others. I don't know, so best to check (and get it in writing). You know what they're like!

 

[M-J-G]

Is there a demand these days?

Whilst studying I provided this type of sarvice, I charged a pound per sheep but in NI flocks tended not to be big.
That was 25 years ago, and these days I won't look at a sheep's feet unless it's lame, I would guess I've done less than half a dozen ewes in the past year out of 180 or so and those are rarely ever lame due to being overgrown.

Offering sheep services will have demand, but I'm not sure trimming feet routinely is common practice any more.

 

[M-J-G]

Sorry to be a bore, but there is sure to be red tape. For example, is it legal to inject livestock belonging to others? I suspect it will be termed a 'veterinary procedure'. OK to jab your own sheep, but maybe not to jab others. I don't know, so best to check (and get it in writing). You know what they're like!

As far as Im aware you can as long as you don't supply the drugs

 

[gwi1890]

As mentioned above is there a demand for it? I imagine anything that needs treatment would be done with everything else like drenching, tagging , tailing, pour on ect, I think you would need to offer a larger package than just foot trimming.

 

[Bucks Boy]

My vet says “Do NOT trim sheep’s feet” . Can spread foot rot. Don’t do any and have hardly any lameness.

 

[Highland Mule]

So, I see a ewe limping and catch her to check what’s wrong. 9/10 it’s scald or a stone in the hoof but on this occasion she’s got a rough bit of hoof that needs cut off. Do I use my pocket knife/ secateurs and do it there and then, or take a note of her tag number and then call the trimmer to come out, find her, catch her again and do it for me?

I’d pay £1 tops, to save washing my hands after. But that’s not gonna cover your diesel to come from the end of the driveway.

 

[David1968]

As mentioned above is there a demand for it? I imagine anything that needs treatment would be done with everything else like drenching, tagging , tailing, pour on ect, I think you would need to offer a larger package than just foot trimming.

Yes, I think you need to offer more than foot trimming. I don't think you'll get the numbers you're hoping for, solely for foot trimming.

All you'll end up with is the few the farmer has kept back after he's had them all in for something else.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Why not set up a consultancy service.
We no longer trim sheep's feet, just cull the serious offenders.
Some people have CODD problems and don't know it!!

Rams are probably the worst as they never get looked at.

Much easier giving advice than trimming feet and probably more useful to the Hobby brigade.

 

[Woolless]

My vet says “Do NOT trim sheep’s feet” . Can spread foot rot. Don’t do any and have hardly any lameness.

That is the current advice. No routine trimming. I would only ever do feet that are very overgrown or misshapen. Example, reject tup hogg with very overgrown toes the other day plus blue spray to ensure he is sound and looks respectable at the mart tomorrow.

 

[puppet]

I would pay you an hourly rate to trim any overgrown feet and check lame ones as well as re-tag, crutch or dose as needed. Would be less happy paying so much a sheep just to tip them all up and cut a wee bit off a toe.

 

[CopperBeech]

Who the f*ck trims sheep’s feet these days ?

 

[gwi1890]

Who the f*ck trims sheep’s feet these days ?

I used my foot trimmer the other day for the first time i years, to cut baler twine…

 

[unlacedgecko]

I would pay you an hourly rate to trim any overgrown feet and check lame ones as well as re-tag, crutch or dose as needed. Would be less happy paying so much a sheep just to tip them all up and cut a wee bit off a toe.

What sort of hourly rate?