Cow bloat?

[greenmojo]

I fed some grass clippings from the lawn to the two new pasture mashers and noticed the heifer starting to get a bit large in the belly... her left side larger than her right.

I looked it up, and discovered something that is common knowledge to people with 4 legged animals called bloat.

From what I can gather it is pretty serious, and I wanted to know if I need to do something about it or let it run its course? Will it slowly go away or?

Here's a pic from just a few minutes ago.



~Moses

 

[dave1949]

bump up

 

[2LaneCruzer]

If I recall my FFA courses correctly, bloat can cause the death of the animal. The common remedy is to drench them with a mixture of milk and kerosene, or to puncture the stomach with a trocar. If you can't handle it, I would call a vet IMMEDIATELY!

 

[jack707]

Just curious what does the milk and kerosene do?

 

[jack707]

Just curious what does the milk and kerosene do to the cow?

 

[Clint S]

Is you pasture alfalfa, clover or did it get into the garden???? call a vet quick, they need to get that gas out asap.

 

[greenmojo]

If I recall my FFA courses correctly, bloat can cause the death of the animal. The common remedy is to drench them with a mixture of milk and kerosene, or to puncture the stomach with a trocar. If you can't handle it, I would call a vet IMMEDIATELY!

Is you pasture alfalfa, clover or did it get into the garden???? call a vet quick, they need to get that gas out asap.

Waiting on a call back from a large animal vet.

I spread a few baskets of lawn clippings out in the pasture, and she was sucking them up like a vacuum. Then I noticed her beginning to bloat up. I looked it up and realized this may be an issue, so I thought I'd ask and see if this is something that will go away or if in fact she needs a hole poked in her to release the pressure.

I can only imagine a house call, after hours, on a weekend, 30 minutes from town.

~Moses

 

[greenmojo]

Thanks for the reality check!

Valuable lesson learned here. I had no clue that just a subtle change in feed patterns can cause this, and ultimately death within as little as 1 to 4 hours.

Vet wants me to walk her around for the next 30 minutes to help her get that gas burped out.

Fun stuff.

~Moses

 

[KubotaToy]

Never burped a cow but we do drench our goats with baking soda/water mix to eliminate gas bloat when they eat something that does not agree with them.

 

[greenmojo]

Pushed them both around the pasture for about an hour, letting them stop and graze and then moving them more.

They're burping and still eating... put just a bit of baking soda in their trough on their feed and they snacked on it but didn't much care for it.

How did these things survive in the wild?

~moses