Twice in the last week Lady Astor has become bloaty. The bloat is indicated by her left side – her grass side – popping out high and round. So round that her hip bone disappears. When you tap on it it feels like a drum.
Lat nights episode was worse than the first. It took a good couple of hours of walking and massaging her side for the gases to escape. Of course this is not always the case with all cows. This condition can be lethal. Lady’s care was only mild. Some need a sharp instrument or a catheter to be punched in through their side to release the gas or a hose down her throat. Oil down the throat. Every farmer has her own remedy.
Luckily I caught it early. I am not experienced in any of these procedures and it was Sunday evening and so we walk. Every time I left her, to quickly attend to a chore, she would lie down again but she was just resting while lay – not chewing her cud. Just lying there. At one point she would not get up so I went and got the lemon grass fly repellent. She hates that stuff and so we walked for quite some time with me brandishing the aerosol at her every time she stopped.
Soon she began to burb – great long belches that I could hear and feel rolling up from her belly and after a while the gases were escaping from both ends and she and I were much relieved.
Now I have to cycle carefully through any changes to her diet to work out what is causing this. The only change is the new hay that she is eating while she milks. Though I don’t think she eats enough to be a bother I will shift her back to the older hay. Greener alfalfa can cause bloat (though usually not in grass fed animals) but only if an animal eats a fair quantity of it. Which she is not. Mostly she eats cabbage and kale mixed with hay at milking time.
The fields have no new legumes in them as they wind down for the year. So it is not that.
She is off kilter, with her udder not being the healthiest at the moment, so I think her whole system is down a bit. She was OK in the night and I will keep her on rougher feed for a while until she is back in order.
The White Rock chickens continue to slowly grow. 
You would think Alex has permanent bloat; she is so round. But it is only her body shape. And both sides are round, not the one bloaty side, or the one baby side. She is just well fed bless her. 
Sunset through the wild garden.
I guess over in this hemisphere we have to start getting used to getting up in the dark again. Starting our mornings before the sun. Sigh. I am not an Autumn person.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi.
WEATHER: Sunny and warm. This Nor’East is keeping us settled and cool. I think the hot weather is over now. What there was of it.
Monday 09/11 0% / 0 in
Sunshine to start, then a few afternoon clouds. High near 75F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Monday Night 09/11 10% / 0 in
A few clouds. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.
Sun
6:29 am 7:08 pm
Moon
Waning Gibbous, 70% visible 10:46 pm 12:11 pm
The Kitchen's Garden 
37 responses to “THE SCARY BLOAT”
Poor Lady Astor. I know now when I eat something with a particular ingredient — even in “trace quantities”, I can develop that same “bloat”. I have never needed fly spray to be motivated to walk, but I recognize that same “signal” that things are mending. Perhaps she is allergic (mildly, or otherwise?) to a chemical that might have been used on the new hay?
It is my own hay – no chemicals – I am leaning towards a weed either in that bale or in the field. Poor you getting the bloat! Whats your remedy – or do I want to know?
Poor Astor. Cabbage and Kale are both brassicas, known to cause gas buildup in lots of mammals. Brassicas are recommended you take extreme caution with for rabbits because bloat is lethal in rabbits (they can’t burp!) so feeding them can be fatal. I wonder if they could be related to her problems?
I don’t think so. She has been eating them for years- plus I was giving her the new hay this past week. Definitely the hay I think.
I’m happy you caught this before it became fatal. You are so in tune with your creatures.
Glad she found some relief with your help. poor thing. Fall is in the air for sure. Sorry it’s dark when you get up now.
I know it is coming and all that – winter – yet every year I am not ready!!
I know but it comes whether we’re ready or not! Every year.
While I generally like the fall I really hate the dark. I guess I could never last in Alaska! The older I get, the less I can tolerate the heat. I’ve had the misfortune of losing 3 horses to colic despite a lot of walking and vet visits. They were all somewhat aged so not candidates for surgery, one was the night after an ice storm and one was the night of a blizzard. Heartbreaking all the same, they had all owned me for a long time.
Not an autumn person? But it’s the
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
(In your favor though, Keats probably didn’t get up until 10:00 a.m. or 11:00. And if he ever spent time on a farm, it was no doubt mostly a matter of looking and gushing.)
Autumn is such a great month with its warm days & cool nights, the colored landscapes, and the late afternoon shadows. There’s much more to love but all of it, in my mind, is negated by season that follows — sometimes having the audacity to get here early. If we could just go from fall to spring and leave winter out of the picture entirely, I do believe the world would be a better place.
Hey Celi .. I wonder if it is the cabbage that is going this? Why not take them out of the diet to see ..