“For the Record”: Hoof Trimmers Gathering in Ontario

Our industry is getting another great chance for a pro get-together. The Ontario Hoof Trimmers Guild (OHTG) is organizing a hoof care conference on August 24-25, 2018 in Guelph, ON. Generally speaking, OHTG events aim to provide continuing education to guild members. However, the group is also keen to educate industry partners. Those are the people offering products and services to farms. Importantly, vets, nutritionists, and hoof trimmers have been working together to support our farmers. With the OHTG conference, we get another event that will allow the professions to network.

Conference topics

Here is what you can expect to hear and learn at the event:

1. Updates on antibiotic usage for hoof care, the future impact of changes to the Veterinarians Act, and changes in the business landscape as driven by animal welfare;
2. Pro-action and regulation changes regarding animal welfare and their implications for Ontario dairy producers and hoof trimmers;
3. Board members of the Western Canadian Certified Hoof Trimmers Association on building credibility for the hoof trimmer profession;
4. A Canadian Dairy Network (CDN) representative on developments in using collected hoof health data in sire proofs and farm comparisons.

In addition, the event will feature three workshops led by Dr. Ann Godkin. The topics are:

1. Hoof trimming assessing
2. Shopping for hoof care help
3. What the future holds for the hoof trimmer profession

The full program and registration forms are available here. At Diamond Hoof Care, we always strive to stay up to date with industry progress. For this reason, we keenly follow all research. Moreover, we never miss an opportunity to mingle and learn more. Therefore, our founder and CEO, Koos Vis, will attend the OHTG event. Besides soaking up any new information, he will also man our booth there.

The history of the hoof trimmers’ guild

The OHTG began in 2006 as a professional group for bovine hoof care practitioners. These were people “dedicated to a higher quality of success in animal care.” Today, the group continues on its mission to improve understanding of cattle hoof care. Accordingly, its hoof trimmers hit the road every day. They offer support and trimming services to farmers across Ontario. Importantly, most guild members have training in bovine hoof diseases, hoof biomechanics, and biosecurity on farms. In fact, eleven of them have taken part in research on biosecurity as relating to digital dermatitis (DD). The study covered over 300 dairy herds in Ontario. The final report of the Ontario Dairy Hoof Health Project is on the official website.