Steve Vai, who many consider to be one of the world’s best guitar players, explained that the key to mastery is to have a passion for music and a desire to improve, and the desire to improve includes playing with others because it is essential to growth.
How many of us truly practice in a way that challenges us to elevate our skill set? Continuing education for professional hoof trimming is more than just reading articles and sitting in meetings. Finding opportunities where your practices and habits are put to the test to sharpen your skill set is the type of practice that separates exceptional professional hoof trimmers from experienced ones.
Securing and maintaining success in today’s dairy industry requires continuing education that is integrated into every level of the farm organization, including your hoof trimmer. Your licensed veterinarian is required to complete continuing education to maintain their privilege to practice. Dairy farms must pass a dairy pasteurized milk ordinance (PMO) inspection twice a year. Dairy employees must have stockmanship training every year according to the FARM Program. What about your hoof trimmer? Have you asked them how they keep their skills as sharp as their hoof knives? Do you encourage them to take the time to invest in their profession and skill set?
We asked trimmers who participated in the Kinder Hoof Care Academy (KHCA) Advanced Training Day to share their thoughts about continuing education and why they took the time to attend.
Reflecting on his experience at the KHCA, Willie Coyne, with On The Money Hoof Care, explains, “I always try to encourage young people to continue to hone your craft, as everyone falls into habits. At the Kinder Ground class, I noticed I wasn’t thinning my margins enough on my white lines. So now I spend just 15 seconds more on a lame cow and get it thinned out a little better. I am seeing those cows come back now and they are definitely better.”
Jamie Sullivan of Ripple View Hoof Care and KHCA instructor, agrees, noting that he leaves each training feeling like he’s improved, too.
“The training helps you recalibrate, become aware of and correct bad habits,” he says.
Iván Castaño returned to KHCA for the advanced training, traveling from Colombia, South America. Castaño shares, “I realized there is always something new to learn. The small changes that you learn and put into practice in your technique benefit many cows and make your life even easier.”
Whether coming from South America, South Dakota or Minnesota, travel and time away from work are challenges to dedicating the time for deliberate practice. Sullivan notes, “If trimmers see it as an expense rather than an investment, it is hard to take time away from their chute.”
Walter Schwarz, who traveled from Oregon to attend the last two KHCA programs in California, agrees. “Most people don’t want to take the time to fly or drive – and some are closed-minded. … There need to be more academy trainings to make it more accessible for someone to want to gain the knowledge.”
After the tools are cleaned and the knives are sharpened, members of the KHCA Advanced Session also have the opportunity to join in the semi-monthly virtual Trimmer Table. The virtual session is designed to be a space for continuing education and community where hoof trimmers can come with questions, suggestions and solutions, and is open to anyone who has attended at least one advanced trimmer session. Topics have ranged from hoof-trimming records and specific lesions, to troubleshooting a trim set up, to improving cow flow and handling.
There are several industry opportunities for professional hoof trimmers to challenge their skills and knowledge in addition to KHCA. The International Conference on Lameness in Ruminants, coming in 2027 to Copenhagen, Denmark, offers trimmers a chance to get to know and listen to the research focused on improving hoof health in a practical way. Anka Hoof Care offers a Summer Trimming School that combines hoof health talks followed by workshops. The Dairyland Hoof Care Institute offers training, and the Hoof Trimmers Association offers education at their annual meetings.
“All of us should have the goal of effecting change,” Coyne says. “To do that, we need to be willing to share knowledge and ideas and absorb ideas from others. The sharing of knowledge helps drive change and results.”
