Design of an automated claw trimming machine for dairy cows, the Pedicow

Design of an automated claw trimming machine for dairy cows, the Pedicow

French, Shin (TU Delft Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering)

Dankelman, J. (mentor)
Horeman, T. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Mechanical Engineering | BioMechanical Engineering | BioInspired Technology

2022-01-18

Since the transition period from tie-stall to free-stall, at the end of the previous century, lameness became more and more prominent. A preventive claw trimming technique was developed for lameness prevention. It is recommended to trim the claws twice a year but this does not always happen so often in practice. One of the things that preventive trimming does is remove excessive claw overgrowth, which can occur evenly over the bottom surface of the claw but is often more present at the dorsal wall. In this pilot study, an automated claw trimming device is designed, manufactured and evaluated to see if excessive overgrowth can be countered. The device should be able to remove evenly over the surface of the claw (straight position) and it should also be able to remove more at the front(angled position), so the dorsal angle can be adjusted. In the straight position, the machine was able to remove claw tissue and most medial claws had a nice even surface after trimming. However, the hoof-wall of the lateral claws was left untrimmed in most cases. In the angled position, the machine was able to remove just the front 2 cm of the claw. More tests with different angles need to be done to see if an even slope from dorsal wall to heel can be trimmed.

Pedicure
Dairy
Machine
Claw trimming
Design

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0cd988c9-99ef-47b3-961c-29e1dc41000e

2024-01-18

Student theses

master thesis

© 2022 Shin French