# Bloated & dead in 2 hours...



## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

Well, not a good night.

6 pm: Moved the heifer into the other pasture, like we do every few days. 

7 pm: After an hour we walked over to see everyone & the heifer walked to us & already looked full. Left side bigger than right. She was also 5 months pregnant.

7:30 pm: Call to vet, 45 min. wait. Heifer is pooing, peeing, moaning. We keep her walking. She throws herself down & we get her up.

8 pm: labored breathing, still up, tongue out. horrible.

8:15 pm: falls down dead.


She is in this pasutre off & on all summer. mixed grasses & red clover.

so we lost her and a calf. vet never comes, no reason, dead heifer.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Bloated from the clover IMO


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## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm so sorry. How truly devastating for you.

It pays to keep some bloat stuff on hand, like a nasal tube and some mineral oil (and a headgate). Or a knife and the willingness to use it, if necessary. Might make a mess, might cause an infection, but an infected cow is still a live cow.

I had a steer bloat once on grain, and I used the nasal tube & oil thing. He went slower, so I had a little time to look it up in books, but it was still nerve-wracking. But boy, when I hit his stomach and the whoosh of gas that came out of him - what a relief to both of us. No doubt about it when you get it in the right spot. 

I think some individual cows are just more prone to bloat than others. I'm sure sorry about your heifer. Dont let it discourage you too much, it's all part of being in the cattle business.


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## glazed (Aug 19, 2006)

This topic is soooo far out of my league, and I am wayy out of my territory responding here ... but I am sad for you, and sorry you are having to go through this.


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## Skelton (Jan 25, 2008)

We keep a big bottle of Mylanta on hand for bloat. As soon as you see them go down with a big left side (which is where the stomach sits), tube them (we use a bag and stomach tube) and get the Mylanta down them. It has saved probably 10 to 20 calves for us over the years, that have bloated on clover or grains. Anyway,....


Sorry about your loss. 

Skelton


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## mamahen (May 11, 2002)

We've had to do calves before and have done the oil, or baking soda, but never this bad this quick. She really went downhill quick. This was an 800 lb heifer. We didn't have a tube long enough, and it took the 2 of us to keep her on her feet. 

We were going to poke the rumen, but the vet said her organs were probably already shifted and we could've done worse damage. Don't know what's worse than dead.

She was only on hay & grass, no grain at all. The vet thought maybe it was grain overload. But they got NONE at all. 

So now she is buried (we have a backhoe) and the mule slept on her grave. How sad is that? After she died & we buried her , the mule went crazy running back & forth. She was there 'til the end watching & watched her be buried (I couldn't). Now she is moping around the field.

This really sucks. I have no problem knowing they are going to be dinner. But when it's something that I did wrong, and they die for no reason. This really bites.


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## Madsaw (Feb 26, 2008)

Sorry to hear of your loss.
I keep bicarb tubes(aka baking soda) on hand and also keep big bottles of veg oil too. A cow can be let into lush feild of clover and alalfa and be dead inside of a hr. We lost a holstein last summer that way. Kind of strange in you case since she has been used to the pastures. Usally you see this if they been on a short pasutre and turned into the better one. They gorge themselves. At this point and time the stomach is so bloated it has the organ shifted out of the way so you have a less risk of poking something other then the stomach. Its hard to find when they are bloated but the old rule of thumb was 3 fingers behind the last rib and 3 fingers down from the spare ribs. Make a small incession in the skin then the stomach. You will need to insert a tube of sort to allow the gas to escape. Our if the vet is on the way and you can stand it, stick a finger in teh opening to allow the gas to escape.

I am not sure what its called in the vet supple books but there is a stainless tube you can use to give cattle boluses downt eh throat and also this can be used to get a hose past the teeth and into teh stomach of a cow to get them down. In a pinch a lenght of garden hose works. Also this is a means to get the oil and bicarb down them too.
Bob


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I'm sorry for your loss. I know as a preventative, you can feed them some dry hay before switching them to new pastures. Seems odd that they would need it though if they had been on the pastures before....


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

This is the tool madsaw referenced
http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc...U8L3145TQ5R3HG6BG6MX6&pf_id=16081&cmkw=trocar


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

I keep several bottles of TheraBloat on hand. It has proved to be a lifesaver twice.

The condition is called 'frothy bloat' because of the foamy gas bubbles that form when the clover ferments in the rumen. TheraBloat works like Gas-X for humans. It pops the little bubbles and turns them into big bubbles that can be burped or otherwise expelled. It can work almost instantly.

If not reduced, the swelling can restrict breathing or cause a twist in the guts. Either can kill.

Genebo
Paradise Farm


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

Oh gosh, thats so sad, and I'm so sorry for you and the poor mule. Mules love their friends as much as we do, she's going to miss the heifer, for sure. They are amazing animals with their capacity to love another species, my little jenny is moping from losing a goat friend last week. That all just sounds so unusual, I wish the vet could have at least cut her open to make sure about what caused the bloat, it sounds like nothing was different than before. Again, my sympathy is with you...........
P.J.


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## vickie (Aug 8, 2002)

Could some one that has used these gas relife procedures please tell me how to do it. That would be some good info to have in my head. Thanks, Vickie


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## randiliana (Feb 22, 2008)

You basically stick a tube (piece of garden hose will work just fine) down their throat and dump the stuff down it. You don't need a long piece of hose like if you were going to tube her to get the gas out, just long enough to go partway down her throat.

Alfalfa and clover can be real dangerous to cows, not only when fresh, but if put up too good, can also cause bloat as hay. The reason is that when they are in their rapid growth stages, there is very little fibre in the plant. There are products out there (Red Water and Alfasure for example) that you can add to the cattle's drinking water which reduce the chance of bloat. They are more or less detergents that help break the foam up. There are also bloat blocks and boluses you can use, which do the same thing.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

I keep an old long necked wine bottle for the Dexters and a long necked beer bottle for the goats. Put the TheraBloat in the bottle, add a pint of water for a cow. Tip the head back and stick the bottle as far into the mouth as you can get it. Cup your hands around the mouth if necessary to keep as much in as possible.

Use 1/2 a bottle of TheraBloat and a cup of water for a goat.

My vet told me not to use the hose as I'm not experienced enough to get it in the right place. If you stick it in the lungs, you'll drown her.

Since I started, I've only had two goats and one cow bloat, but this is a really good year for clover. It's been rainy here and the clover took over. I'm worried about bloat, so I keep 2 SweetLix Bloat Blocks in the pasture with 11 Dexters and 11 goats. The TheraBloat sits on a shelf at home, next to the door.

Genebo
Paradise Farm


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## nduetime (Dec 15, 2005)

So sorry for your loss. We had our first experience with bloat this year. Our Lucy has been on the same pasture since she came to us. This year we have had lots of rain and then hot, hot days. needless to say we have a lot of clover. Went out to feed a couple weeks ago and she was bloated huge. We ended up inserting a 14 gauge needle to let some of the gas out...PHEW! Now we have a bloat block at all times in the lot for her and she licks on it a lot. We also keep a bottle of bloat drench on hand. Thank goodness for dairy neighbors, we knew just a little about it, enough to know we needed to call him right away.


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