Recurring bloat in cow

[willow_girl]

I have a cow that calved about a month ago. At 18 days postpartum, I turned her out on pasture (grass, not alfalfa) and she bloated. She responded to oiling. I kept her in a pen on dry hay for a day or two until she looked normal again, then turned her back out ... bloated again. After one more shot at it, I've kept her in a pen for about a week now ... again, no problems while she's on hay. There is a small amount of grass in the pen which she has been keeping grazed down with no problem.

Yesterday one of my other cows busted the fence down and she got out onto pasture and bloated AGAIN! I just don't know what to do with this girl, especially since I'm moving in a month and won't really have a place to pen her at the new farm where she won't have access to grass.

Each time she has bloated, it has responded to oiling ... within a couple hours, she's back to normal again.
Her manure during the bloat phase is scant and runny, but goes back to normal afterwards.

She had an easy calving, cleaned a half-hour later ... no other problems associated with calving.

When not bloated, she is eating normally and ruminating. It just seems like she can't digest grass anymore!!!

Suggestions? I'm about at my wit's end here!

[Paula]

Has your vet checked for displaced abomasum?

[willow_girl]

Yeah, a DA was my first thought, too, but the weird thing is that when she's not on pasture, she is eating normally and ruminating. Which you usually don't see with a DA ... she didn't have any of the calving complications (retained placenta, etc.) that generally fall into that spectrum, either. I dunno!!!!

[JeffNY]

The grass sounds rich, and considering the reason why they bloat on legumes, its also because they are rich. Can you supplement hay along side of her grazing? Let her eat some grass, then bring her in, slap hay in front. Could be simply her, most dont bloat off of grass, and even with alfalfa it takes a bit more.

Dont know, sounds like an individual type thing.



Jeff

[gone-a-milkin]

Maybe she is finding something other than grass to eat out in that field. An allergy to something? One time we had a cow doing the same thing...turned out there was a bag of fertilizer along the fenceline (dear neighbors) no other cows were eating it, but that one was. I would go combing the field for any suspicious and foreign plants, etc.

[cindy04]

Willow Girl,

I just read an article on this very subject on real-food.com (family cow). Go there and do a search on "bloat". They recommend feeding hay prior to turn-out, starting at 30 min to 1 hour, then increasing. They key appears to be, turning out during the hottest part of the day when there is NO moisture on the grass. Good luck with your girl and keep us posted.

Where are you moving to? I enjoy your post. Liberal, kind hearted folks are a joy to hear from.

Cindy

[Karin L]

This don't sound right. I've never heard of cattle bloating on grass before. Unless it's a particular species of grass, usually cows DON'T bloat on grass, or grass is usually bloat-safe. Grass has a lot less amount of protein than bloat-causing legumes like alfalfa or clover. Even when it (grass) is in it's vegetative state and growing, there still shouldn't be any issues with bloat.

I think it could be the animal, it's to do with the clearance of small feed particles from the rumen. Frequent bloaters, like your cow have a slower clearance than nonbloaters, or animals that don't bloat as often. It could also do with the grass she's eating. What species of grass was she turned out on? AND, like someone else said, it could also be something that's bloat-causing that she keeps getting into. Just a thought, but your pasture isn't bordered by a hay field with alfalfa in it, is it?

And finally, you might have to ship her, if all else fails.

[Karin L]

Here's another possible cause/solution: (from Ropin' the Web Alta Ag website)

"Chronic bloaters
Chronic bloat appears in cattle of all ages. The bloat can be life-threatening, but it is generally not as severe as acute bloat. Sometimes, chronic bloat disappears for a few days and then re-occurs. In mature cattle, it is usually associated with chronic hardware disease or an abscess or tumor that interferes with belching. Chronic bloat can occur in beef calves up to six months of age, often without an apparent cause.

Some possible causes include a condition known as persistent thymus gland in the chest, the continued feeding of poor-quality roughage, and chronic infection of the nerves supplying the forestomachs. However, these causes are not common. In most cases, chronic bloat occurs sporadically and is usually due to an abnormality of the belching mechanism. Most animals with chronic bloat should be culled for slaughter if the bloat cannot be controlled by dietary change."

[Donna from Mo]

The only cow I had that bloated constantly had a belly full of roofing nails in her. We cut her open to see what the problem was, after she died.

[JeffNY]

Put a magnet in her, then see what happens. If she doesn't bloat, could have been some hardware irritating her stomach. Its odd though, I would think the hay would irritate it as well..



Jeff

[willow_girl]

Hardware ... OMG ...

Well, let's hope it's not that ...

Aren't hardware cows supposed to be thin and poor-looking? Her weight is right where it should be, and she looks fine when she isn't doing a "Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon" impersonation!!!

(How the heck do you get a cow to swallow a magnet, anyway??? Yikes!)

OK, more info in case it sheds any light. She is a 3rd lactation cow and has never had any problems before. The night before she bloated for the first time, I came back from a trip, did chores and gave her quite a bit of grain ... not realizing that my ex (who had been watching my animals while I was gone) hadn't grained her AT ALL in the week I was away. GRRRR!

Next day I put her on pasture ... now, she wasn't bloated when I turned her out, but I have to wonder if the combination of sweet feed and grass (it's just plain grass, really ... and this has happened in 2 pastures, on opposite sides of the road, so I don't think it's something she's finding and getting into, like the fertilizer bag).

It seems like something just got thrown out of whack in her rumen ... I am thinking of trying probiotics of some kind. Yogurt??? To try to get the 'good' bacteria built up???

The funny part is she's right as rain when she's penned up ... but this cow has a nasty habit of going through fences ... it's one of the reasons she was culled from the dairy!

Anyway. Culling is not an option ... If I have to keep her in a small pasture from now on, so be it ...

Cindy, thank you for the kind words! I am headed for western Pennsylvania ... Pittsburgh area!

[Paula]

I think you use a special bolus gun for the magnet. The magnet's specially made for the purpose. I think they're fairly inexpensive.
Have you checked with the vet about her?

[tinknal]

I would try bicarb of soda. You can get it feed grade, and it won't hurt to feed all of your cows if you cannot isolate her for feeding.