Aberdeen Angus Cattle - Rockside Farm

Trimming the bull's hooves - Octomore Farm

The hooves of cattle grow like human toenails and need to be trimmed - particularly if they are kept on soft ground.  Dolly and James therefore herd their Angus bull, which weighs more than a tonne, into a specially designed 'crush', or cage.

Once the bull is strapped in, the crush is tipped on its side using a hydraulic system powered by the Massey Ferguson.

The crush is provided by Stuart Ogle, a specialist from Galashiels.

Stuart then trims the hooves using a combination of knives and a sort of angle grinder.

The bull remains remarkably stress-free during the operation, which is of course completely painless.

Aberdeen Angus Bull

One of the great pleasures of living on an island that produced beef as its main agricultural crop is that we have lots of magnificent bulls to look at.  Beef bulls, like this Aberdeen Angus that was looking over the fence at me as I pedalled past Craigens at lunchtime today, are a fairly docile lot.  At least they are compared to some of the dairy chaps that I have met, several of which have been complete nutters.  This huge fellow is currently sharing a field with half a dozen of his men-friends, a mixture of Angus and Charolais.  There are no girls about, so things are fairly tranquil.