dcara
Well-known member
I had to treat a 3 1/2 month old heifer calf for bloat yesterday. I hadn't checked on that group of cattle since Sunday so I'm not sure how long she had been bloated. When I got there around noon I noticed from a distance she had a left rear limp. On closer inspection I saw she had a little blood on the inside of her right rear leg, her barrel was swollen, her eyes seemed sunken, and she was blowing bubbles and grinding her teeth. It took me a while to convince myself she was bloated since I had never seen or heard of one bloating that young before. Once I got her in the chute I realized she had the classic bulge on her upper left side. I ran a tube down her and she deflated nicely. Then put a quart of mineral water down her and gave her a shot of LA300. She was feeling much better so I released her.
We have had very cold weather here this week (for Texas) but the ponds are not frozen hard. That is to say the ice along the edge will break as soon as a calf steps on it so I think they are getting water ok. There is still some rye grass to be had and all the calves (and momas) are grazing what they can find. But unless that calf found a secret patch somewhere and pigged out I don't think that caused it. The only other thing I can think that might have caused it was that I set out a couple of extra rolls of my freshest coastal hay this week (September cutting) for that group knowing the forecast was for a really cold and icy week. That was in addition to their normal allotment of spring cut rye grass rolls and some 1 1/2 year old rolls. The momas will usually crowd around and go through the freshest hay first not leaving much room for calves at the hay rings. For a normal allotment, the fresh coastal usually lasts about 2 days, the spring cut rye grass about 3 days, and there is usually about 1/2 a roll left of the older hay at the end of the week . But since I set out extra coastal this time I wonder if that calf had pigged out on some of it before the cows got to it earlier in the week. That would mean the calf could have been bloated since maybe Tuesday.
What are ya'lls thoughts on what might have caused it.
We have had very cold weather here this week (for Texas) but the ponds are not frozen hard. That is to say the ice along the edge will break as soon as a calf steps on it so I think they are getting water ok. There is still some rye grass to be had and all the calves (and momas) are grazing what they can find. But unless that calf found a secret patch somewhere and pigged out I don't think that caused it. The only other thing I can think that might have caused it was that I set out a couple of extra rolls of my freshest coastal hay this week (September cutting) for that group knowing the forecast was for a really cold and icy week. That was in addition to their normal allotment of spring cut rye grass rolls and some 1 1/2 year old rolls. The momas will usually crowd around and go through the freshest hay first not leaving much room for calves at the hay rings. For a normal allotment, the fresh coastal usually lasts about 2 days, the spring cut rye grass about 3 days, and there is usually about 1/2 a roll left of the older hay at the end of the week . But since I set out extra coastal this time I wonder if that calf had pigged out on some of it before the cows got to it earlier in the week. That would mean the calf could have been bloated since maybe Tuesday.
What are ya'lls thoughts on what might have caused it.
