Our tale of cattle bloat

[Amadioranch]

A little less than a week ago I did something really silly that ive been paying for since. At our evening feeding instead of feeding hay to our 18 month old steer I let him out onto our alfalfa pasture. Ive done this a few times before and gotten away with it. The difference this time is I neglected to notice that his bloat block was gone. A hour and a half later my neighbor called to tell me that I better get out and look at my steer because hes making really odd noises. Well he was bloated terrible bad, tounge hanging out and barely able to walk. He was about half a hour away from dead. Friend came over and evaluated the situation and we decided he needed to be stuck to release gas to save the animal. The relief was incredible but it was obvious this was a frothy bloat and the hole kept plugging. We inserted a funnel and kept the airway clear. Poured in vegetable oil and that settled the bloat right down. Next morning we started antibiotic shots and now 4 days later the steer is healed and very much on the mend.

Couple things and then a few questions. First is that we arent interested in changing forage. Its a mix of wild grasses, bermuda, clover, and alfalfa. It a mix that ive worked years to cultivate and does extremely well here compared to what most usually grow. Second is I know I goofed. We are going to take the additional steps of: Always feeding animals on hay till full before we release to pasture, add a hay feeder to the pasture and free feed hay along with what they eat out of pasture, add additional bloat block in convenient places so the animals can access them.

My question is this, Id like to add another layer of protection in putting something that prevents bloat in the water source also but I cant find any commercial products available here in the USA for this purpose. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand seem to have these available but not us. Anyone have a suggestion of a commercial product or something homespun?? Ive seen reference to using different soaps..... Any advice would be great.

[notwyse]

Like the funnel. Lost my favorite buck to bloat....never got over the fear. Wish I had thought of the funnel... His was frothy too and he was down when I found him. Never thought I could give mouth to mouth to a buck goat who did the usual with his beard...but I did. Heck...I wasn't kissing anyone anyway.