Was the fact you added cracked corn a coincidence? Could that also have been around the time you increased the amount of sweet feed?
If you're feeding much more than 1% of the cow's weight in grain/sweet feed, you can start running into digestive problems.
If your corn is of good quality, and you are feeding enough hay, plus have free choice water available at all times, then back off on the grain for a week or two.
You don't say how much grain you are feeding, nor how much hay. That's important information.
It takes a cow time to develop the proper bacteria in her rumen to digest new foods. Add too much too soon and she will either bloat or go off her feed. The ratio of grain to hay also affects the pH of the rumen, as well as how well the feed moves through the gut. Not enough roughage and her digestion slows down and she bloats or goes off feed, too.
New feeds need to be introduced slowly and gradually.
> After four weeks of feeding out my
> heifer in the pen she quit eating.
> We were feeding sweet feed then
> went to sweet feed and crack corn
> 50% 50%. Just as soon as we
> started adding corn she quit
> eating. Her nose is wet and runny.
