dcara
Well-known member
One of my 11 mo old Angus steers would not come to the feed trough tonight. I went over and made him get up and noticed his left side seemed a little more full than normal, and his breathing seemed slightly labored. I left the pen gate open for the calves to come out and went up to the house to see what I could find out about bloat. 15 minutes later I went back to the pen and he and the other steers were out and playing but his left side still seemed slightly larger. I hope I am just being a nervous nelly about this but what are the stages, time frames and treatments at a given stage.
Him and the other steers have been on corn chops and free choice hay for months. The only change to their diet recently was a new roll of hay they started last weekend. The new roll is coastal hay. Previously thay had been eating hay of a lesser quality. Could this have prompted a bloat episode?
This calf is 3 weeks away from becoming freezer beef so I was thinking that if he were to go down tomorrow (Sunday) I might be better off just ending it, cleaning him and putting him in the freezer. The problem is I've never actually cleaned a calf before. I've cleaned deer though. Is it similar?
I've read that placing a tube down their throat into the rumen to release gas or administer about 8 ounces of mineral oil are treatments. Another treatment is inserting a large needle throught the flank to release gas. However, I don't have a squeeze chute to hold him. Are these treatments supposed to be used when he is to weak to put up a fight?
As far as the vet option goes, without a sqeeze chute to hold the calf it doesn't seem like the vet could do anything here, or if he would even come out or to the office on Sunday. It wasn't clear from my reading how much time elapses in this age calf between bloat onset and last rights. If he is bloating will he last untill monday? How often does a bloated calf work through it on his own?
Him and the other steers have been on corn chops and free choice hay for months. The only change to their diet recently was a new roll of hay they started last weekend. The new roll is coastal hay. Previously thay had been eating hay of a lesser quality. Could this have prompted a bloat episode?
This calf is 3 weeks away from becoming freezer beef so I was thinking that if he were to go down tomorrow (Sunday) I might be better off just ending it, cleaning him and putting him in the freezer. The problem is I've never actually cleaned a calf before. I've cleaned deer though. Is it similar?
I've read that placing a tube down their throat into the rumen to release gas or administer about 8 ounces of mineral oil are treatments. Another treatment is inserting a large needle throught the flank to release gas. However, I don't have a squeeze chute to hold him. Are these treatments supposed to be used when he is to weak to put up a fight?
As far as the vet option goes, without a sqeeze chute to hold the calf it doesn't seem like the vet could do anything here, or if he would even come out or to the office on Sunday. It wasn't clear from my reading how much time elapses in this age calf between bloat onset and last rights. If he is bloating will he last untill monday? How often does a bloated calf work through it on his own?