Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Forums
Cattle Boards
Health & Nutrition
Will constantly keeping hay in front of cattle make them bloat?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Help Support CattleToday:
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lucky_P" data-source="post: 1660106" data-attributes="member: 12607"><p>Not seeing the cow/calf or the hay, we're all just guessing. </p><p>I'll throw out one more... 'cause I've seen it more times than I can shake a stick at...I'm not saying this is the problem, but it's a scenario that happens... almost every year. </p><p></p><p>You've got free-choice hay out for the cows. Access 24/7. Nothing else to eat. But... it's really poor quality hay with Crude Protein level down around 3 or 4. Not enough protein/nitrogen in it to allow the rumen microflora to digest it... so it just kind of 'sits there'... takes longer to process and pass through... so the cows' consumption decreases - there's not enough room for them to eat more... and since it's not providing adequate nutrition, they start catabolizing body fat stores and, eventually, muscle. </p><p>Body condition is decreasing rapidly, but the stockman either doesn't notice because they're not really LOOKING AT the cows - just putting out more has as needed... or just can't believe that the cows are starving to death, because "They have all the hay that they can eat!" Cows start dying, but have big distended abdomens...not really bloated, per se... but full of poorly-digestible hay. </p><p></p><p>Again, I'm not saying that's what's going on with Taylor30's cattle - especially since the calf was also getting supplemental corn feeding - but it may be time to have another set of eyes - like your local food animal veterinarian - take a look.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lucky_P, post: 1660106, member: 12607"] Not seeing the cow/calf or the hay, we're all just guessing. I'll throw out one more... 'cause I've seen it more times than I can shake a stick at...I'm not saying this is the problem, but it's a scenario that happens... almost every year. You've got free-choice hay out for the cows. Access 24/7. Nothing else to eat. But... it's really poor quality hay with Crude Protein level down around 3 or 4. Not enough protein/nitrogen in it to allow the rumen microflora to digest it... so it just kind of 'sits there'... takes longer to process and pass through... so the cows' consumption decreases - there's not enough room for them to eat more... and since it's not providing adequate nutrition, they start catabolizing body fat stores and, eventually, muscle. Body condition is decreasing rapidly, but the stockman either doesn't notice because they're not really LOOKING AT the cows - just putting out more has as needed... or just can't believe that the cows are starving to death, because "They have all the hay that they can eat!" Cows start dying, but have big distended abdomens...not really bloated, per se... but full of poorly-digestible hay. Again, I'm not saying that's what's going on with Taylor30's cattle - especially since the calf was also getting supplemental corn feeding - but it may be time to have another set of eyes - like your local food animal veterinarian - take a look. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Cattle Boards
Health & Nutrition
Will constantly keeping hay in front of cattle make them bloat?
Top