OT - Bateing cows?

Anonymous-0 · Mar 31, 2009

Friend next door said they used to bate the cows in the spring by pasturing for 2-3 hours them bringing them in, but has no idea what it was about. At first we thought it was baiting but now think it was bateing, to lessen, so they wouldn't bloat on the fresh vegetation. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! joe-

Anonymous-0 · Mar 31, 2009

(quoted from post at 05:20:32 03/31/09) Friend next door said they used to bate the cows in the spring by pasturing for 2-3 hours them bringing them in, but has no idea what it was about. At first we thought it was baiting but now think it was bateing, to lessen, so they wouldn't bloat on the fresh vegetation. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! joe-

Have to do that with our stallion, and gelding, and empty/not nursing mares. Or just put a grazing muzzle on them the first day or so.

Dave

RayP(MI) · Mar 31, 2009

If cattle get on fresh pasture when their stomachs have been processing dry hay, problems come up. Cattle will gorge themselves and bloat. They get a bad case of gas, and can't relieve themselves of the gas and pressure. There are a couple emergency cures for this, neither is pleasant. One is to stick a hose down their throat, and allow the gas to vent. Other is to puncture their stomach through their upper side near the hip bone. Vets have a hollow tube for this, I have known farmers to use pocket knife in an emergency. Like I said, not pleasant. By allowing limited access to pasture for a few days, the problem is usually bypassed, and animals stomachs, and internal bacteria learn to process fresh growth.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 31, 2009

It helps to turn them out after they have eaten a belly full of hay first.

thurlow · Mar 31, 2009

Never heard the term, but bloat can be a problem.....under certain situations. Locally, at least, it was only a problem with an unbalanced pasture, i.e., more legumes than grasses, and turning hungry, empty-bellied cattle into lush, fast growing, primarily legume pastures. All about management..........

jack harmon · Mar 31, 2009

simple trick ,always keep you a really old cow around,when ever you put your herd on different pasture or a new pasture,whether peas,sudan,johnson grass,wheat, alfalfa, just a new pasture or anything different run that old cow in first,and let her graze for a few minutes,if she doesnt go down most likely you can turn the others in.thats how we did it in the old days anyhow,new way is to do like you say and let them graze for a few minutes more each day,just make sure you can get them out!!!oh and by the way,just for your info,NOTE: i said minutes not hours,a cow can go down with bloat or prussiac poisoning in 15 minutes.and will be dead in 30,in the right circumstances!dont ever change a cows,or horse or any other animals pasture unless you have time to watch them a while.hungry cows or horses,are not like a hog.they can eat a suprising amount in a short time,and if they come off a dry pasture onto a green they will eat until they drop dead if its poison or their stomachs cant handle it!

jack harmon · Mar 31, 2009

Oh,forgot to mention,the problem is compounded greatly when you have small pastures.the reason is theres not so much variation in the grasses,if you take say twenty cows,or horses, off 200 acres they wont generally bloat because they for one have enough feed and enough varied feed to keep their stomachs working.its when you take those same twenty cows off twenty acres of one type grass,and throw them on another that it becomes a bigger problem.just remember cows and horses are grazers ,not browsers.they will eat anything green first.old ma nature has got it set up where different grasses,forbs, etc become available at different times in normal pasture so they switch foods slowly.

waltdavies · Mar 31, 2009

I keep my cows on the pasture all winter and feed hay til later in the spring to make sure they have a balanced meal its been working great for me, But I don't live in an area where the grass goes away in the winter.
Walt

big hunter · Mar 31, 2009

A steer we had got bloat last spring. I fertilized our 2 acre pasture waited a month to let the grass grow. started rotating the steer into the pasture for 2 days then the 2 ponies 1 day then the steer 2 days and so forth. The steer got bloat. I mixed some "Therabloat" with some water, put a little grain in with it. The steer ate/drank it and before he was finished he was burping. By the time he finished the mix he looked at me and burped about 6 more times as I watched his left side shrink back down to normal. Wait a minute...maybe we didn't start rotating them until after he got bloat...lesson learned...

Bill(Wis) · Mar 31, 2009

You have to be extremely careful with rumens that have not been on pasture all winter and then rediscover that first lush pasture, especially alfalfa or clover with dew on it. They'll gorge themselves and bloat. We never, in over 70 years, had a cow bloat. We would feed them generously in the barns, give them another good feed of dry hay, wait for the dew to burn off, and then turn them out to pasture. Our neighbors had cows bloat every spring/early summer by turning them out too soon, too hungry. After they've been out on pasture a while, it pretty much ceases to be a problem. They're more like deer then. Seen plenty of it, don't eat it so fast.

OT - Bateing cows?

Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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RayP(MI)

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Anonymous-0

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thurlow

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jack harmon

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jack harmon

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waltdavies

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big hunter

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Bill(Wis)

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