A
Anonymous
I'm going to pick the brains of all you cattle experts out there!
I have a Jersey/Holstein first-calf heifer. She was very young when she calved, not quite 22 months (wouldn't have bought her if I'd known she was that young). Heifer calf is now 12 weeks and weaned. Calf weighed 100 lbs at birth and had to be pulled, mother contracted a uterine infection and had to undergo antibiotic treatment. She's been doing real well until the past few days. A week ago Saturday, she bloated. I called the fellow I had bought her from and he administered "Bloat Drench"s and she was fine in a few minutes (this was when I found out just how old she is -- turned 2 this week). Now she has bloated 3 times in as many days -- and today it took a visit from the vet to finally get her to release the gas. She didn't respond to the "Bloat Drench" or to the vet's suggestion of baking soda.
In the course of administering the baking soda mixture to her, I noticed that she appears to be teething -- and I also noticed some apparently dry clumps of hay in her stools. Is it possible that she's having trouble chewing? and could that contribute to bloat?
Any thoughts would be appreciated -- I really like this heifer, but I can't do this every day! Too many more episodes and it's off to the salebarn!
Ann B
She has very limited access to grass/weeds, her diet consists of a dairy mix milled locally just for her, and equal amounts of good alfalfa hay and good brome hay.
I have a Jersey/Holstein first-calf heifer. She was very young when she calved, not quite 22 months (wouldn't have bought her if I'd known she was that young). Heifer calf is now 12 weeks and weaned. Calf weighed 100 lbs at birth and had to be pulled, mother contracted a uterine infection and had to undergo antibiotic treatment. She's been doing real well until the past few days. A week ago Saturday, she bloated. I called the fellow I had bought her from and he administered "Bloat Drench"s and she was fine in a few minutes (this was when I found out just how old she is -- turned 2 this week). Now she has bloated 3 times in as many days -- and today it took a visit from the vet to finally get her to release the gas. She didn't respond to the "Bloat Drench" or to the vet's suggestion of baking soda.
In the course of administering the baking soda mixture to her, I noticed that she appears to be teething -- and I also noticed some apparently dry clumps of hay in her stools. Is it possible that she's having trouble chewing? and could that contribute to bloat?
Any thoughts would be appreciated -- I really like this heifer, but I can't do this every day! Too many more episodes and it's off to the salebarn!
Ann B
She has very limited access to grass/weeds, her diet consists of a dairy mix milled locally just for her, and equal amounts of good alfalfa hay and good brome hay.