bloat and tornados

[DallyCash]

So had a large tornado go through central Kansas on wed the 25th. we were in our pasture checking on the cows within a half hour of the tornado going through. But when we got to the cows a few were still alive, however they were terribly bloated. like "been dead for 12 hours in 90 degree weather" bloated. What caused them to bloat so fast?

 

[Ol' 243]

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[wbvs58]

My suggestion would be that they were in a pretty succulent to pasture to start with and under normal conditions they were able to quietly chew their cud and belch the gas at their leisure but in the excitement of the storm they weren't given the opportunity to peacefully get rid of the gas and it quickly built up in pressure.

I don't know much about tornadoes but I assume there is lightening about, do you think that some deaths could be from that?

Ken

 

[DallyCash]

there was no stink of singed hair or anything like that. one was on her side, my husband thought she was still alive, although not sure how he could see any breathing she was bloated so bad. another was caught between trees, very obviously alive and trying to get up but was really bloated. we put her down because there was no way to get a tractor or anything up there to help her up, and with the bloat, we figured she wouldn't last too long. one cow had her rib cage all blown out one side, still alive and standing. the bull had a nasty compound fracture of the hind leg, so he was put down also.

 

[TCRanch]

I am so sorry! Hopefully your property was spared & no injuries to your family/neighbors. We were hit in '11, still not sure if it was a tornado or straight line winds, but it was in the middle of the night & the end of Feb so they were still on bales (no lush grass) and the only injuries were from debris.

 

[ClinchValley]

Nightmare scenario. Hate to hear it!

 

[Bigfoot]

Did the tornado cross your property, or just go near your property? I lost some to a tornado once, but it was very evident what killed them.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Jeese, that's awful! Sorry to hear of your losses. I think Ken is on to something there. Could also be that during the melee of the storm, there was some panic and the bull got injured as a result.

 

[cattle60]

Sorry for you're loss. I agree that was probably some to due with not being able to digest properly. was that the one they said was on the ground for a hour and a half? At least you'all weren't injured.

 

[DallyCash]

Sorry for you're loss. I agree that was probably some to due with not being able to digest properly. was that the one they said was on the ground for a hour and a half? At least you'all weren't injured.

yep that's the one. Only minor injuries for humans, no deaths. That sucker was on the ground for 90 min and covered 26 miles. It took its time to do as much damage as possible.

it took out our north fence line and part of the west fence (approx 1/2 mile of fence that was just replaced a year or 2 ago). One cow was thrown almost under the roots of a tree along that north fence, the rest of the dead (or put down) cows were about 300 yards north of that (so one someone elses property). we aren't sure how or why they went that far north.

we were lucky, one guy had to put down more than double what we had dead. we still need to catch 6 cows, but they wont come out of the draws and trees. we know that we have 2 orphan calves, they are 45 days old, so what do we feed them? high protein grain is what I said, someone said that we will need to give them milk for a while yet.

 

[cattle60]

How is everything? Sorry for the loss and problems. Glad no major injuries to people, a tornado is one of the most scary things to me, even though I never have been in one. Was 1 mile away crossing Kansas on I70 by hays the closest I came. If you catch the calves and can get them to suck a bottle it probably would be better for them until they get to eating grain/grass/hay and doing good on them.

 

[DallyCash]

How is everything? Sorry for the loss and problems. Glad no major injuries to people, a tornado is one of the most scary things to me, even though I never have been in one. Was 1 mile away crossing Kansas on I70 by hays the closest I came. If you catch the calves and can get them to suck a bottle it probably would be better for them until they get to eating grain/grass/hay and doing good on them.

Everything is ok. The amount of people that have helped or offered to help is amazing. The last cow was located Tuesday night, 6 days after the tornado hit, about a mile away. She must have been carried and discarded by the tornado. So had a loss of 8 cows, 1 bull. We have 3 orphaned bull calves (now approx. 55 days old) and 5 dry, open cows that will go to the sale barn on Monday. We are worried about the amount of stress that caused them thus effecting their ability to breed and carry a calf. We will keep the 2 cow/heifer pairs, because even if the cows don't breed, surely the heifers will later.

it continued to rain after the tornado, and so the fields and pastures were so wet, that they would get one trailer loaded then hook onto it with the tractor and pull it out of the pasture to the road. The boys (men) had fun playing though!