# Can beef cows eat too much grain and get sick?



## Judy77 (Aug 17, 2013)

Hired man fed our 3 steers and 6 (yearling) calves a lot of grain this morning...mostly corn with a mix of something else. He cleaned the last bit out of the grain bin and rather than waste it on the ground he fed it. I am wondering if it could be too much and cause a problem. 

Judy in Indiana


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

definitely YES ; i hope they haven't ; watch out for bloating ;


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## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

Depends on how much grain and what form it is in and whether your stock had been fed much and gotten used to it prior to this.

Depending on those answers, can do nothing to them, or can make them sick, or can result in death.

Are you talking a few gallons of grain, or several bushels?

Was the corn cracked or whole? Whole corn releases carbohydrate more slowly so is safer.

How much grain were you feeding before? Feedlots will feed mostly grain but take a long time to build up to that.

Ruminants are designed to eat more fibrous roughage. Too much starch (carbohydrate) at once results in bacteria converting it to lactic acid, causing acidosis. In severe cases, the acid gets into the bloodstream and causes death. In less severe cases it causes ulcers and allows bacteria to enter the bloodstream and infect the liver. Liver abscesses are a problem in feedlot cattle fed high grain diets so they feed antibiotics to prevent it.

Anyway, hope they didn't get too much as by now probably too late to do much.

Call your vet as soon as you can.

Can also google "grain overload" and read more. Here's from the Merck Manual:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/d..._forestomach/grain_overload_in_ruminants.html


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## Wild_Bill (Aug 4, 2014)

If it came out of the grain bin then its most likely what they have been eating. Keep an eye on them, but they should be fine. Cows eat lots of things that you would prefer they didn't. Grain that their stomach is used to is not so bad. Mine knocked a gate in the barn once. Got in the feed bin and ate till they were full then left it alone. Even pigs quit eating when they are full. Again you should be fine.


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## Ross (May 9, 2002)

I know when sheep do this we drench a baking soda water mixture and give a B complex shot. Not sure i would hassle the cattle to do this unless they act depressed and won't move much. Make they have lots of water and lots of hay!


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## mmoetc (Oct 9, 2012)

Watch for distension of the abdomen, particularly on the left side. A good large animal vet might insert a cannula to relieve the gas. At least they used to. The more playful ones have been known to light on fire the gas released. Quite a sight. Good luck but unless it was a massive quantity it should be of little concern.


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## Judy77 (Aug 17, 2013)

Just out checkin on our cows..they seem fine...thanks for all the good input. We won't let this happen again. I really don't like feeding grain...but these are my sons cows and educating him is taking some time. 

Judy


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

Glad it came out OK. 

I was finishing a steer a few months ago and finally each a tipping point with grain. I had been increasing a little each day and watching the output carefully. On a busy Saturday, I may have double fed in one of those moments of two much doing and not enough thinking.

The next day, I saw a steer that was blowing out feed, head down and looking like I did last week with the flu. It kept eating hay and pulled out of it in 3 or 4 days. You did not 
let it go that far. All the best.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Glad your cattle didn't have problems.

Grain has its place. Keep your grain in 32 gallon galvanized metal trash cans, behind corral panels so that cattle cannot get to it. If varmints get into the trash cans (hasn't ever happened here) use bungie (spelling?) cords to tie the lids down. I started doing this when raccoons took the lids off of chicken scratch, laying mash, and bird seed; they had themselves a nice little buffet one evening. No more!


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