bloat

Gather App
T

tncattle

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
2,010
City & State/Province
Tennessee
I work PT 2-3 days a week at a large row crop/ cattle farm, about 7000 acres crops and 500 brood cows on around 3000 acres--I guess it's big by northern middle Tn standards anyway. I went in this morning and the owner said three good cows were all found dead from bloat two days ago and he thinks it's from feeding pure oat hay. Is that rare or even common? If that's the problem can we just mix/grind oat and grass hay together and then be ok. They all had young calves also :( Thanks for your help.
 
I wasn't really expecting it at this time of year, but I had a case of hypomagnesemia (grass tetany) come through the lab earlier this week - ultimately, bloat was what killed the cow, but she was down, and bloated, as a result of her blood magnesium level being too low. Producer indicated that they had 3 other cows, all with young calves, that had gone down &/or died over the past week or so.
Character of the forage in her rumen was pretty crappy looking... certainly nothing lush... so I checked Mg & Ca levels in her ocular fluid. Mg was far below the low end of the normal range.
 
That's kind of what I thought. I guess I won't be to involved for at least a short time and maybe longer. I injured my knee badly (lots swelling, can't even walk on it, very painful and no range of motion). Headed to the doctor tomorrow. My wife reminded me I'm 47 not 27 :
 
tncattle":hsr0cf5v said:
That's kind of what I thought. I guess I won't be to involved for at least a short time and maybe longer. I injured my knee badly (lots swelling, can't even walk on it, very painful and no range of motion). Headed to the doctor tomorrow. My wife reminded me I'm 47 not 27 :
Click to expand...

I heard about your misfortune, take care of that knee. Good luck.
 
The vet did a necropsy and it was bloat, vet said they can & will bloat on any grain hay. Thank you Tennessee! The doctor drained a ton of fluid off my knee and will have to again. Probably going to get a cortisone shot also. Fun times.
 
tncattle":25gmpazl said:
The vet did a necropsy and it was bloat, vet said they can & will bloat on any grain hay. Thank you Tennessee! The doctor drained a ton of fluid off my knee and will have to again. Probably going to get a cortisone shot also. Fun times.
Click to expand...

Take care of it. Here's to a speedy recovery.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top