[Lesley Silvester]

Tried to do the goats' hooves today - that is, a friend was doing them while OH held the goat and I tried to take her mind off it - but they are rock hard. The shears are brand new so it's not them. We're going to try again next week but they really need softening. I plan on using warm water but is there anything I can put in it to make it more effective? I don't imagine they'll be prepared to stand with a foot in a bucket for very long.

[Penninehillbilly]

Is there no way you can run them on wet grass for an hour or so? I try and trim my goats when I bring them in from the field, nice and rubbery.

[fiestyredhead331]

no shortage of wet grass up here 

I sometimes use a spray bottle of warm water, doesn't take much to get the hooves to soften up and cleans off the dirt as I go

[Treud na Mara]

'A spray bottle of warm water' - what a brilliant idea ! Much simpler than getting them to stand in a welly full of water one hoof at a time as I have read suggested elsewhere for other hoof treatments.

[cans]

given the recent weather the goats would need a welly at each corner to keep the water out   

[Lesley Silvester]

I don't have a field to put them in but warm water in a spray sounds like a plan. Thank you.

[Melmarsh]

If your warm water isn't enough, depending on how thick the horn is, I have used some straight snips, with long handles, a smaller version of the ones a farrier would use on a horse !! That gives me plenty of leverage, used them for doing my males in the day and the odd !!! female. My fingers are full of arthritis and bent ,so they were very useful.