Calf ate a plastic bag. Concern?

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

Well, I had a calf out in the pasture eat a plastic bag today before I could retrieve it from her. Looked like maybe a bag like potatoes are sold in that blew through the pasture.

Is this a health concern for the 5 month old calf? Any suggestions on course of action?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Had a calf die from eating one. The calf might burp it back up, or it might pass threw some how. If the calf bloats then it's probably blocking the rumen, and I guess you would have to cut it open to get it out.
Call your vet monday he will be more help.
Good luck

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Definately can cause a blockage. Whether the calf can pass it or not depends on the calf's size & the size of the plastic bag. If you're talking a 300# calf with a 5# potatoe sack, I would be watching calf extremely close for any signs of uncomfort. Then you have to decide if an operation is worth it or harvest whatever meat you can. I'm not familiar with how extensive surgery like that would be.

 

[dun]

Several years ago the dairy had a heifer that grew good until she was abut 6 months old and turned out in a pasture along the highway. Wasn't long till she started to look poorly. The brought her in and fed her better and she continued to grow but just alwasy looked off. Finally at a yearling they decided t butcher her to try to salvage some value. When a cow/ster is butchered I always like to cut open the digestive tract, I find the structure of it amazing. When I cut hers open I found a coupe of blue plastic walmart bags almost covering the interior of the rumen. They had started to break down some but were still basicly intact.

 

[Ouachita]

Ah, the ole blue walmart bags; the Arkansas state flower . I never understood the paper-to-plastic propaganda.

 

[Lucky_P]

Pretty unlikely to be a problem. I find grocery bags, wads of plastic hay twine, even pieces of baleage bags in cattle's rumens all the time - just sitting there, not causing any problem - the animal died of totally unrelated issues. Sure, other respondents have detailed their individual cases, and I'm not saying they don't ever happen, but in 35 years of veterinary practice and diagnostic pathology, I've NEVER seen a cow or calf that had an issue from ingesting non-digestible stuff like a plastic bag.

Back when I was in college, we had a rejected calf that we raised on a bottle - he would not stay in the pasture - went up and down the sides of the highway frontage eating every piece of trash that anyone threw out of their car - McDonalds bags(paper, in those days) those styrofoam Big Mac containers(this was back in the '70s), etc. didn't matter - he was gonna eat it. Never caused him a minute's problem; but the day he chewed up one leg on each of 4 brand new pair of Levi's that I'd washed and hung on the line, was the last straw - it was off to the processor for him.

 

[greybeard]

Ah, the ole blue walmart bags; the Arkansas state flower . I never understood the paper-to-plastic propaganda.

Saving trees I guess. I think a walmart bag has a half life about the same as Radium 226.

 

[inyati13]

Hey Lucky_P, this is a topic I have always wondered about. Have you ever found an aluminum can in the rumen? The previous owner of my farm must have been a serious beer drinker. I have picked up beer cans in places you would never have thought he would be out there drinking a beer. Anyway, they are getting to be rare finds now as I always pick up anything like that but I have seen calfs mouthing about anything they find. So you would think they might swallow a cruched aluminum can.

 

[Lucky_P]

Can't say that I can recall finding an aluminum can in one - certainly a wide range of hardware - nails, screws, bolts, wire, chunks of metal, and the occasional plastic bag, wad of plastic hay twine or bale wrap, but no cans.
Find nice hairballs in the abomasum(4th stomach) of calves, on a regular basis, and have found a few in the rumen of cows through the years - usually with a hard, mineralized 'shell' surrounding a firm, tightly-packed ball of hair.
Occasionally see a horse with one or more 'colon pearls' - enteroliths - concretions of mineral and plant material that progressively get bigger and bigger until they finally act like a ball-valve and obstruct the colon where it necks down from the transverse colon to the small colon.

 

[glacierridge]

The dog just helped a couple young heifers get a hold of some twine this morning...
UGH!!!!! WHY??!!
(dern dog causes more headaches...)

Hoping it wont be a problem.

 

[fatcattle]

Not sure if it will cause a problem or not. Depends on your luck I guess. I have pulled a 55 gallon contractor grade black plastic bag from the rectum of a horse before. I saw something hanging besides his tail. When I started pulling there was about a foot of plastic hanging out. The bag was basically intact, just a few holes where he had chewed on it. I have no idea how something that big could pass through without any problems, but it did.

 

[Deepsouth]

I brought this back up because I had a 2 mounth old calf eat most of a plastic ice bag yesterday. I have always heard this can cause problems and I have read this thread and some other stuff on this subject. I know there is not much I can do but I did put some dish soap in the water trough hoping it would help it go on through. I know that sounds crazy but it was all that I could think to do. So now I guess it's just wait and hope for the best but it did get me to thinking and I have a question. How long does it normally take food to pass all the way through a cows digestive system. I understand that the bag will be unpredictable I'm just talking about normal food in a normal digestive system.

 

[alisonb]

It usually comes back up when they are chewing their cud and they spit it out. Although I've had to cull a 6 month old calf that was loosing weight, found a hard ball of baling twine causing a blockage. There was no ways that ball was going to see it's way out of the calf.

 

[Deepsouth]

It usually comes back up when they are chewing their cud and they spit it out. Although I've had to cull a 6 month old calf that was loosing weight, found a hard ball of baling twine causing a blockage. There was no ways that ball was going to see it's way out of the calf.

I have not heard of it coming back up and them spitting it out, I hope that's what happens. The calf is still acting fine, suckling, grazing, licking minerals, drinking and running around with the other calfs, but I know it could taker awhile for this to start affecting him. I worried about it a good bit Friday night and yesterday but I got to thinking that this probably happens more than we realize we just aren't there to see it so I feel little better but I will be keeping an eye on him.

 

[jilleroo]

I noticed something blue sticking out the rear end of a foal in the stable being weaned. Pulled on it and it kept coming, a long piece of thick baling twine of a kind I'd never even seen on our place. I've also seen the poddy calves snatch up plastic bags and scoff them off but they never had a problem from it. Mind you, it takes ages to introduce them to some new sort of expensive calf crumble or feed, but show them a plastic bag or a bit of twine, its gone in a flash.

 

[whatisgmo]

I would not worry to much about it, it seems some folks only check livestock once a week. By then it will either be dead or not. You will be good to go. Think like a hobby guy. Everything goes smoother when you are not concerned.

 

[ga.prime]

Ah, the ole blue walmart bags; the Arkansas state flower . I never understood the paper-to-plastic propaganda.

Saving trees I guess. I think a walmart bag has a half life about the same as Radium 226.

Tree huggers and oil company lobbyists in cahoots on that one.