Graham guardian., 1901-06-14
TO PREVENT ALFALFA BL0AT.
An Interesting Article on Alfalfa clipped
From the Southwestern Stockman,
Farmer and Feeder.


Whitaker, proprietor of the Alfal-
ia Meadow Farm, at Shady Bend,
Kansas, as follows:
A great deal of our alfalfa crop
goes to waste every year because
of our fear to pastura IT, A great
many animals have been lost from
bloat caused by pastering alfalfa.
l have 100 acres which / pasture
every spring and fall, and have
never lost an animal from bloat;
and am so sure that l know how
to prevent bloat, that / turn my
entire herd of registered Herefords
on without fear. Every year my
neighbors lose animals from alfal-
fa bloat, and it is from careful
observation of these cases and my
own experience that base my
conclusion. | believe the cause of
bloat is extreme hunger on the
part of the animal, which at sight
of food produces an abundant Sc
cretion of the digestive fluids Of
the stomach. This hunger also
causes the animal to eat very rap
idly. The result is that a large
amount Of alfalfa is quickly brought
into contact with the already Sc
creted digestive fluid, and the ef-
fervescence sets in with the result
that unless the gas finds a means
of escape, death follows. If the
muscles of the throat are lax, the
alfalfa and gas will come boiling
out at the mouth, and the animal
is soon past all danger. But in
most cases the throat, like old Ger
berus, while allowing unlimited
passage in, denies exit; and in this
case a wooden bit, four or five
inches in diameter, tied in the
mouth of the COW, or better, a
piece Of new rubber hose about
three feet long forced down the
throat, will allow the escape Of
the gas sometimes and gives relief
And last the trocar or knife.
But far better than any of these
(Which all fail some times) is pre-
vention, which consists simply of
driving the stock into the wheat
fields or other green pastures and
keeping them there for three or
four hours until they are filled up,
then turning them on the alfalfa,
and then never taking them off,
repeat the process every time you
turn them back. Do not even shut
them up in the lot at night, or if
you must, see that the gate is open
every morning before the most in
dustrious COW is at it waiting to
be turned out, for if COW looks
through the fence at the delicious
breakfast before her, she is in dan
gerous condition to partake of it.
l have never had a case Of bloat
while observing these rules. In
conclusion, let me mention one vio-
lation Of these rules Last fall
was pasturing my alfalfa, when we
had very heavy rain, and the
ground was rendered very muddy,
and / took the cattle off and fed
cured hay. When it was dry
enough to turn onto the alfalfa,
but not on the wheat, l decided to
try turning directly on the alfalfa,
and the experiment came very near
costing me dearly. In less than
two hours | had number of COWS
bloated. Three were very bad.
One of them began belchlng her
oversupply and got all right. The
worst one l gagged, then run
a piece of hose down her throat,
but it was not new, and the muscles
Of the throat caused it to collapse,
and it did not let off much gas.
When she was so far gone that she
could not stand without staggering
] used the knife, (not having tro-
car), and saved her. Had turned
the cows on the alfalfa that day
without an attendant, and left them
there all day, | have do doubt the
experiment would have cost me at |
least 81, 900.
/ think, too, that it is much bet
ter to have wheat or other green
pasture in the same field with the