Fruitful Acres

In the goat world, I've yet to run into anyone who cares about hoof color, but people do ask if it matters now and then. In the sheep world, it's a different matter. Sales are made and lost over the color of an animal's hooves, especially those of rams. These links relate to horses because that's where people put the money into researching the topic, but from what I've been able to gather from breeders, vets and farriers, the same data applies equally, regardless of species.

If you see differences between the hooves on animals of different colors, try to remember that correlation doesn't equal causation. Let's say a given line has white hooves and another line has black, there could be differences in the breeding of those lines that impact the individuals in question. Also, nutritional requirements are different between animals with different pigmentation, so maybe the nutritional needs of one animal are being better met in a given environment than other animals in the same environment.

From what I can tell at this point, the shape of the legs, nutrition, genetics, climate and the quarters the animals are kept in have more impact than color alone. I love the comparison the one farrier asks about in relation to the horse with one white hoof and 3 black hooves because this was the second question I asked (the first was about the striped hooves) when I first started hearing there was an opinionated controversy afoot.

I encourage everyone of us to look at all the possible explanations in evaluating a topic of controversy. Often there is merit to all sides and looking at all sides carefully can give us insights into the details that actually lead us to better management of our livestock. Meanwhile, I'm still studying and comparing hooves, hoof wear, the impact of diet, environment and leg structure on the hooves and hoof wear.

Hoof Color

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