Thank you to everyone on boards-bloat

[Gate Opener]

Our new bull bloated last night. I checked on him around 11pm and saw him throw up. I've never seen one bloated much less throwing up. I called the vet, couldn't get him. I remembered redfish having trouble and came in and read some of that and also did a search. Some of the recommendations I saw were whole bottle of Tums, I only had 18. Tide laundry detergent, I had Gain. Ivory dishwashing liquid, I had Palmolive. I wasnt sure if they would interchange. Oh and I didn't have mineral oil and didn't know how to tube. So I saw where someone said to walk them so I got one of the horses and walked the bull from about 1am until 5am. My toes were so cold!!!! I saw the bull throw up probably 10 times. It wasn't just a little throw up it was a lot!!! Anyway, my husband thought that Mylanta might work, we checked and had kinda the same ingredients as Tums so we got the bull in the chute and gave him 130 cc. (some spilled) and let him out and in about 5 minutes he was eating hay. He is fine today.
It was a rough night and made for a rough day today. This must be what jet lag feels like.

Now I have a question. How do you tube a cow? Do you use a water hose? How do you keep from going somewhere you are not supposed to?

Oh one of our vets (good guy) called after we doctored him. He was very apologetic, he didn't hear the page. He said we did the right thing. He said we could have also used Maalox.

If this bull does this again, he is gone.

Thanks again to everyone on the boards. This place is so useful. Without ya'll, I might have had a dead bull this morning as he was really bad.

 

[Farmhand]

I hate bloat! Good work though! Glad to hear he made it. A lot of times you do all you can and they still die. You can also use baking soda and water to treat bloat.

 

[dun]

Now I have a question. How do you tube a cow? Do you use a water hose? How do you keep from going somewhere you are not supposed to?

The easiest thing I found was a section of garden hose. Use the kind with a metal male end and check and make sure there aren;t any sharp edges. I just very slowly pushed it and waited for them to swallow then pusjed it some more. If it goes in the lungs you'll here air going in and out. When you hit the stomach you'll definitly know from the smell. Don;t be soking or stand around the end of the hose when you put it in. One will cause and explosion the other will cause nausea. I had a peice of round maple stock about a foot long that I drilled a hole in themiddle of that was big enough for the hose to pass through. If you don;t have some way of protecting the hose they'll gnaw there way through it. I'ld put the wood in the mouth and then pass the hose through it. We had such an emidemic of bloat that I made a rope halter that the piece of wood was attached to so I wouldn;t have too many things to fight at once. Out of several dozen cases of bloat I only had to use the trocar and canula one 2 or 3. The garden hose worked unless they were down, then I stuck them.

dun

 

[milkmaid]

Now I have a question. How do you tube a cow? Do you use a water hose? How do you keep from going somewhere you are not supposed to?

The easiest thing I found was a section of garden hose. Use the kind with a metal male end and check and make sure there aren;t any sharp edges. I just very slowly pushed it and waited for them to swallow then pusjed it some more. If it goes in the lungs you'll here air going in and out. When you hit the stomach you'll definitly know from the smell. Don;t be soking or stand around the end of the hose when you put it in. One will cause and explosion the other will cause nausea. I had a peice of round maple stock about a foot long that I drilled a hole in themiddle of that was big enough for the hose to pass through. If you don;t have some way of protecting the hose they'll gnaw there way through it. I'ld put the wood in the mouth and then pass the hose through it. We had such an emidemic of bloat that I made a rope halter that the piece of wood was attached to so I wouldn;t have too many things to fight at once. Out of several dozen cases of bloat I only had to use the trocar and canula one 2 or 3. The garden hose worked unless they were down, then I stuck them.

dun

A PVC pipe or metal pipe works for putting a hose through, too.

 

[dun]

A PVC pipe or metal pipe works for putting a hose through, too.

Never thought of that. That chunk of maple had started life as the handle on a cheese press, then it graduated to being used as a priest on salmon, a speculum for bloat then finally firewood.

dun

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Hats off to you! Wow, you really went far & beyond to keep him going.
I only had one time that we had bloat. Ken & I were managing a 200 head cow herd. He was out of town. I needed to move the cattle to next pasture that had a SMALL patch of Alfalfa (in September). I waited til 11 am, so the Alf would be dry & turned them in & walked around them for 1/3 hour or so. Left for lunch & went back with camera to take pics of some outstanding c/c pairs. Found 1 dead, 1 down, & at least 1/3 of the rest in some stage of bloat.
I rounded up some construction workers that were doing project on farm, had them help me put all cattle in a big pen & put out square bales. Was able to get "down" cow up & in a chute. I cut a garden hose & had one of the "men" hold her head while I pushed the hose down (NEVER did this before) - I was "just lucky" & all went well & released the bloat.
To say the least, I am VERY leary of grazing ANY alfalfa.
Of course, the one that was dead - one of OUR bred yearlings.

 

[Gate Opener]

What order of treatment do you think is best to go in? Should the antiacid come first or tubing? If you use baking soda and water, how much?

I'm not sure what made him bloat, we don't have alfalfa. The only thing I can think of is that we were letting them clean up a round bale but that has never caused a problem before. Dun, do you know what caused yours to bloat?

Sorry to hear about your loss Jeanne. What made that alfalfa bad to graze? Is it dangerous after it is baled?

 

[dun]

Tube first. While the tube is in you can dump stuff into it if you feel the need, right through the tube.
We think we know what caused it. Aesenic blowing in from a dry lake north of us.

dun

 

[Maineshowgirl]

This has helped me a lot. Plus show cattle world you hear a lot about bloat. Take some bakeing soda and mix it with water to make a paste. Then get a drench gun and drench them REALLY REALL GOOD. Min oil works really well to.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Gate Openener, it was a looonnng time ago, but thanks.
Alfalfa is a legume, as is clover & trefoil. They are a major cause for bloat. If grazed, it's best that they are FULL prior to turning them out on it, and that the legume is DRY (no morning dew or rain. It is worse in the fall when you might be getting light frosts or even real cold nights. I'm not "saffy" to all the chemical causes, but I know enough to stay clear!!
There are some legumes specifically designed for grazing.
The old bale may have had enough mold to cause the bloat. Bloat is tough to determine - many things can trigger it, and some cattle are just plain ole cronic bloaters & need to be shipped.

 

[milkmaid]

This has helped me a lot. Plus show cattle world you hear a lot about bloat. Take some bakeing soda and mix it with water to make a paste. Then get a drench gun and drench them REALLY REALL GOOD. Min oil works really well to.

I've always used mineral oil on my bloaters. Usually has them back to normal in 10 minutes or so.

 

[preston39]

milkmaid,


How much MO do you typically use per treatment?Also, generally only one treatment takes care of the problem?

 

[milkmaid]

Don't recall offhand. It says on the gallon jug (which is out in the shed right now). Think maybe it's 2-4oz for a calf to yearling size? I can check though. Then I add about a half gallon of water to make it easier to drench. Think there was only one this spring that I had to repeat the treatment on, and it may have been my fault for not giving enough MO the first time.

 

[Gate Opener]

Now I am concerned about bloat. I saw on the news(via computer) where a guy in E. Texas lost 20 cows to bloat the other day. He had turned them in on some newly planted pasture. My question is-At our other place the cows are eating rye grass. The pastures they are in are short. I have 2 other pastures that are tall with rye. There is a little clover, not much. I provide them with either coastal hay or corn stalks. Do you think it would be safe to just turn them into the tall rye or do I even need to do that gradually?

 

[dun]

There are supplement blocks by various manufacurers, usaully called something like bloat guard or some variation of that. If they're on them before they're turned out in theory it will prevent bloat. Check with your local feed emporium. Remember the ounce of prevention and the pound of cure adage.

dun

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I haven't heard of cattle bloating on rye, but I think they can bloat on anything if they overindulge. Dun is right, Bloat Guard is a great precaution, and be sure that they are not real hungry when you turn them in.
Bloat can hit them soooo quick and it can be sooo deadly.

 

[Gate Opener]

Thanks, I'll try to find some today.