Legumes in pasture

[inyati13]

I lost a sweet heifer who had her first calf on December 3, 2011. She was my favorite. I enjoyed seeing her every day. She would come to me and want to be rubbed. I got very fond of her. I am 62 in August and I had to cry when I found her. It has not helped that her 5 month old calf which is very much like her is mourning. Seems she probably died of bloat. I have a lot of sweet clover and white clover in my pasture. Other than spraying it, is there a management plan that would favor the grasses over the clover? I may have to spray where the red clover is dominate but would hate to spray areas that have good grass with clover mixed in.

[dun]

There are blocks you can put out before they go on clover that prevent bloat. Sptaying with 1,4-d or Grazon will knock the clover down without affecting the grass. You can limit grazing on high percentage legume fields until they adjust to it.

[Douglas]

adding nitrogen fertilizer would increase the grass growth to the detriment of clover.

[banekar]

We had so much clover here this year, we had to put bloat blocks out. Didn't have any trouble, but heard of a lot of people who did that didn't use the blocks.

[regolith]

Nitrogen.


...and that really sucks.
Limit grazing, hay might help, anything that stops them gorging the pasture down faster than they can process it.

[inyati13]

I have the sweetlik blocks out. It contains the chemical that helps break down the gases but I had those out before she dies and I know she was licking them. I had thought about the nitrogen idea. I think I will do that next spring. Thanks.

[regolith]

One of the cows my boss found dead of bloat last year was only metres from a water trough heavily dosed with bloat oil.
IThere's dairy farms in this country that lose a cow every year to it: the clover-rich pastures and management style that is so effective at producing low-cost milk also creates the bloat problem.
Spraying the pastures with bloat oil (alcohol ethoxylate), daily drenching or water trough treatment is what we do during the risk season, and it doesn't prevent every death. Close observation, but that's easy when you're rotational grazing and go see them 1 - 2 hours after moving, if there's any bloat around you'll see it then and can step up the precautions & should also be in time to save one. Except this year my herd wasn't following that rule.

[inyati13]

Thanks regolith. My pasture includes some steep hillsides. There is also clovers in some drainages that would be hard to get to except by hand spraying. I run my herd by myself. And what about at night. She died in the early hours of the morning. I last saw her at 6 pm. I found her about 6 am the next morning. I could tell she had been dead only a couple of hours. I wish I had drenched her before I went home for the night but that is hindsight.

[regolith]

Sometimes they don't read the textbook.

Do you notice them standing with their front feet uphill of their hind feet more than usual?

[jerry27150]

you could cross a little santa gertrudis in, they aren't supposed to bloat

[inyati13]

Had another cow bloat yesterday but I was able to get bloat relief down her and she belched it up. When I got out to the farm early yesterday, her left side was bulged above her backline. Regolith, I think I mostly see them standing with their front feet up hill. How will they stand when they are suffering from bloat?

What about those Santa Gertrudis? Are they really bloat resistant?

[greatgerts]

Had another cow bloat yesterday but I was able to get bloat relief down her and she belched it up. When I got out to the farm early yesterday, her left side was bulged above her backline. Regolith, I think I mostly see them standing with their front feet up hill. How will they stand when they are suffering from bloat?

What about those Santa Gertrudis? Are they really bloat resistant?

We haven't had any bloat issues in the 20 years we have been raising them.

[Lucky_P]

There's no sound reason to believe that Santa Gertrudis cattle are any more 'bloat-resistant' than any other breed.

[dun]

There's no sound reason to believe that Santa Gertrudis cattle are any more 'bloat-resistant' than any other breed.

I rthink it's more the individuals then the breed. Our cows are freqeutnly on about 90% clover pastures after being on straight fescue with no bloat problems. Last year the vet brought 8-10 cows over that had been on WSG hay. We turned them straight into an all clover field and none of them had problems. Neighbor across the road has problems with his cows if he has any clover in his pastures.

[regolith]

Had another cow bloat yesterday but I was able to get bloat relief down her and she belched it up. When I got out to the farm early yesterday, her left side was bulged above her backline. Regolith, I think I mostly see them standing with their front feet up hill. How will they stand when they are suffering from bloat?

What about those Santa Gertrudis? Are they really bloat resistant?

inyati, they probably prefer to stand uphill than downhill anyway but when they've got bloat it supposedly helps them belch up the gas and on a flat-er farm they will seek out a slope to stand on when they're bloating. It could be one of those old wives tales, but I have seen them do it in the past.

Lost one 36 hours ago that any reasonable person would call nitrate poisoning, but there is no difference in how I found her than any of the other 'bloat' deaths this year, so now I'm wondering... I checked with the vet and it's nearly $70 I've been paying for every pasture sample to check nitrates, so I didn't take any more in. The cows have been on toxic crop for the last ten days with no problems seen, and I've been up there watching them graze every day for two to three hours. Reading up on nitrates and the one positive thing is it picks off the ones in poorest health/condition.