Near miss - grain can kill cows!

[DJ in WA]

Thought I'd offer myself as a bad example for those unaware of this issue.

Woke up to see my two cows in the yard (I left a gate unlatched).

My initial fear was having to hear from my wife about any damage to flowers. Then I discovered they'd made it into the feed room. I had a Rubbermaid tub of mineral-grain ration they got the lid off and cleaned out. Fortunately, I'd been scraping bottom with it, but another day and I might have poured in another 50 pound bag. I had an open bag of turkey ration (about 25 pounds) they tried to get into but couldn't.

These are small cows getting less than a pound of grain daily. As I understand it, if a cow was to get a belly full of grain, the microbes in the rumen would convert the carbohydrates to acid, burning up their rumen. Sick or dead depending on how much, how easily digested (whole grains safer), how used to grain the cows are. Maybe the experts here can comment on what to do if they do get into alot. I've heard of even cutting open their side and bailing the grain out.

The simple answer is to latch your gates. For the absent minded like me, I guess the second and third line of defense is to secure grain in a latched room, then in covered containers.

Would be a bummer to lose a cow to this after a few years of raising.

[piglady]

when I was growing up, my dad raised wheat and angus cattle. The wheat was stored in the barn in bulk to mix with corn etc. to make a feed for the cows. One day he left the door unlatched somehow and they all got in the barn and ate all they wanted. By the time we found them they were dropping like flies. Called the vet and he came out and put a tube down their throat and filled them full of mineral oil (or something similar). It saved a few but it was way too late for several. He was so mad at himself and I was so glad I had not fed for him that day so it wasn't my fault. After that, he loaded up what was left and took them to the sale barn. He never raised cattle again after that.

[JulieLou42]

About the only time I have to worry about Ginger getting into her grain storage is when she's in milk, and I bring her into her garage stanchion. There's a room for the house's mechanical stuff ... 1000 gal. water tank, all the solar power rigs, the tankless water heater, etc. ... with a steel door that can be locked, off of the garage where her grain's kept. In four years of milking, I don't think she even knows about it...but I could be wrong, so she's kept away from that door, and always on her lead rope when brought in for milking.

The B.S. cow I had in 1973-74 may have got into hers...we weren't sure what killed her. She got the runs and quit eating at all after a few days, and died on the 11th day. I was very distraught over this loss.

How fast does too much grain put them down, does anyone know?

[Calfkeeper]

Hi. I did a Google on this and found this site:

http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/l...alth.htm#Grain

Here's an excerpt:

Acute cases show staggering, appear blind and ‘drunk’ and go down after 10 to 48 hours. Death can occur 12 to 72 hours after the onset of signs.

Cause
Too much grain eaten too quickly results in an excessive build-up of lactic acid in the rumen. Changing from one grain to another too quickly can cause similar problems, so a slow introduction to any grain diet is necessary. Grain or roughage too finely milled is a common factor in grain poisoning. The condition is accentuated when the animal is suffering from cold stress.

Over the years my DH has had founder happen in the fresh heifers in the summer months. They would calve, join the milking herd and within a couple of months they would founder and croak. Last summer he called out the vet and we were told that it was because they were getting fed too much grain too soon and because it was so hot they weren't grazing and so weren't getting enough roughage in their rumen to offset the extra amount of feed they were getting. They were doing exactly what it said; snarfing down the grain too fast and then not eating anything else.

Rebecca

[Cat]

One thing I've recently heard about being used in cases of over-eating of grain that I actually use in my work is Activated Charcoal. It is sold through Animal Health Distributors and can be given using a caulking gun. It'll absorb the toxins in the stomach and be passed as stool.

[Sunraven]

We put charcoal in our TMR to help with this also because the cows are fed such a rich rich ration. We have special dry cow and heifer feed formulas, then go up to a pre-fresh formula three weeks before they're due to calve to get them adjusted so when they're introduced to the cow ration it doesn't kill 'em. Type of feed and how much is very critical to produce the most possible milk.

[DJ in WA]

Piglady, that would be a total bummer your dad experienced. It's hard for me to keep my guard up day after day when nothing has happened for years. I guess every time I leave the cows I should ask what I've done that would allow them to kill themselves, or get out and disappear.