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Author Topic: Bloat remedy recipe  (Read 3485 times)

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Bloat remedy recipe
« on: October 04, 2020, 08:25:08 pm »
I’ve read the pinned post about bloat but couldn’t see the recipe for a remedy. Understand it’s bicarb, water, and oil?? But in what measurements?
Also read two tablespoons of ground ginger with water in a syringe. Seems like that’s an awful of ginger??
Can I syringe the bicarb mixture?
I have a six month old lamb that is making the groaning noises I posted about a while back with an adult ewe. In that post it was surmised that it could be a case of “semi-bloat”; tummy rubbing on the left hand side produced benching and sheep seemed to recover in a few hours. This lamb is sitting by herself (other lambs on the other side of the field), doing the groaning/holding breath and releasing thing, grinding her teeth occasionally, and on rubbing her tummy is bringing up gas. She has got up and nibbled at grass.
Apologies for rehashing the subject.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2020, 09:19:51 pm »
I don't think we have ever done proportions, but the ingredients are yoghurt, sunflower oil, ginger and bicarb of soda.

Long story about a calf who was brought back to health using this remedy here

Add the bicarb immediately before giving the drench, you want it to froth up inside the animal, not in the jug on the way over to the barn ;)

Basically, make a pouring liquid consistency of the yoghurt with the oil, add a bit of ginger (I use a bit of fresh chopped up if I have it, but I'd probably use maybe half a level teaspoon of ground for a 6-month old lamb.)  With a lamb that size, maybe a rounded dessertspoonful of bicarb, added and stirred in quickly, just before you give it?  If you have to repeat the drench, adjust the amount of bicarb according to whether you thought it needed to burp more or less! 
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2020, 08:13:33 am »
Thanks Sally. Will have to procure some yoghurt from somewhere! Can I use veg or olive oil instead of sunflower? How much of the mixture do you drench? If I mix it in a jug I can bring the dose up through the tube but how many ml? Sorry...

Checked lamb last night and she was sat with others, and still all together this morning. She’s still doing the groaning noises (it’s like she’s holding her breath for a brief second before letting it go). Belly rubbing is producing the odd belch. I’m only guessing really that this is the problem but imagine the concoction won’t hurt her to try in the first instance. I can’t tell very well how swollen she is as she’s led down so everything’s pushed out solid anyway.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2020, 08:17:17 am by tommytink »

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2020, 09:20:58 am »
If she's still uncomfortable this morning get the vet to look at her.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2020, 10:27:03 am »
Yes, any edible oil will do.

I guess maybe prepare a litre of the yoghurt / oil / ginger mixture, then split it, add the bicarb to one half and feed that, see what happens.  Do the other half if it seems like it's helping.

If you don't have yoghurt to hand (probiotic is best, of course), and can't get any straight away, then I agree with twizz, get the vet.  The animal is clearly in distress, and if the rumen has stopped working you need to get it going again pronto.

Other things I might do is pen her on her own on clean straw, next to other sheep but so that you can see if she's pooping and peeing.  If not pooping, check that there is a proper anus, and give paraffin, which would help to shift any blockage.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2020, 11:12:25 am »
Definitely peeing okay and her anus has served her well for six months so assume no problems there.
Got the OH to pick up yoghurt when he went out this morning but by the time he came back she’s on her feet and eating. Still can’t see that she’s in any way distended on her left side. Subsequent check saw her sat down but chewing cud, which she wasn’t doing previously.
I’ll check her again in a bit and see how she sounds.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2020, 12:10:58 pm »


Fingers crossed she's on the mend :fc:

Definitely peeing okay and her anus has served her well for six months so assume no problems there.

Au contraire.  Sometimes the anus is missing but an internal fissure between the rectum and vagina does the job - but these have been known to become unequal to the job at 4-6 months.  So - never assume ;)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2020, 12:48:13 pm »
Crikey - that sounds horrible! Have seen her pooping now, lovely little pellets. So appears to be okay that end.
As she moves about eating I can hear little burps. I’ve sat with her and seen her bring up cud so this would show the rumen is working??
 I can’t work out what would’ve given her bloaty symptoms to be honest. She isn’t on any concentrates, and hasn’t had the opportunity to accidentally gorge on any. Not much clover to speak of either. Maybe I’ll give her a dose of the mixture anyway. Do you just do it through a normal dosing gun and just let it refill and pump?

PipKelpy

  • Joined Mar 2019
  • North Shropshire
  • Dreamer with Mary, (cow) and sheep.
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #8 on: October 05, 2020, 02:49:28 pm »
I've used homeopathic charcoal and brandy! Miniscule pillules shook up to activate with the brandy sprayed into her mouth every few minutes. Farted like mad after some time and watched as she went down, by that I meant she was blown up, literally! She had got stuck on her back. I'm assuming normal activated charcoal would work as well. Yogurt, swear by it! Always keep it in stock as dogs have it twice a day, have done for years! Also, you have an animal with "gurgles" think natural before chemical. You get to know after a while.
Halter train the cattle to keep them quiet but watch your back when they come a'bulling! Give them all names even those you plan to eat. Always be calm. Most importantly, invest in wellies with steel toe caps and be prepared for the clever cow who knows where the toe caps end!!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2020, 03:48:24 pm »
Yes, sounds like all is well with the rumen if she is burping and cudding  :relief:

And pellets out the rear is good news too  :thumbsup:

Yes, I would administer the mixture using a dosing gun.  But if she's burping and cudding, I would probably just give the yoghurt and ginger, with enough oil only to make the yoghurt flow in the dosing gun; her rumen does not sound like it needs to be kick-started, nor that it's too acidic.  But good bacteria are always helpful, I think.

Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2020, 09:42:58 pm »
Well the yoghurt in the dosing gun was not a success! It was far too thick and I seemed to be adding copious amounts of oil to try and get it to go through which I wasn’t keen on giving her. So I went for warm water around 125ml, with around 30mg of bicarb, and a couple of teaspoons of veg oil. She had around 45ml of this. To be honest the bicarb wasn’t fizzing up as much as I expected! It’s prob past it’s best - one of those things I have in the cupboard and never use.
I’ll check her again tomorrow and see how she sounds but she was up and grazing and moving with the others when I last saw her. She definitely wasn’t sounding wheezy, and hard to see how bloated she may have been under all her fleece (both sides felt equal at least) so hopefully a prolonged case of indigestion.
Isn’t activated charcoal what they give animals to make them sick?? (And to people that have drunk too much?!)

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2020, 10:16:11 pm »
Inactivated charcoal is good for soaking up toxins, lining the gut so they are not absorbed. We have used it in calves with scours (Crypto and rotavirus) on advice of the vet with good success.

landroverroy

  • Joined Oct 2010
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2020, 01:58:08 am »
Well the yoghurt in the dosing gun was not a success! It was far too thick and I seemed to be adding copious amounts of oil to try and get it to go through which I wasn’t keen on giving her. So I went for warm water around 125ml, with around 30mg of bicarb, and a couple of teaspoons of veg oil. She had around 45ml of this. To be honest the bicarb wasn’t fizzing up as much as I expected! It’s prob past it’s best - one of those things I have in the cupboard and never use.


Bicarb doesn't fizz unless you add boiling water or add an acid to it eg vinegar or lemon juice. It neutralises acids, hence its use with upsets stomachs/rumens. So if you add it to something that causes it to fizz before it's been administered, then you've used up its neutralising ability. So your bicarb and oil was probably exactly what was needed. (Bicarb keeps for ever in an airtight container.)   
« Last Edit: October 06, 2020, 02:00:47 am by landroverroy »
Rules are made:
  for the guidance of wise men
  and the obedience of fools.

tommytink

  • Joined Aug 2018
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2020, 08:52:04 am »
Ah okay, that’s good to know landroverroy. Good culinary knowledge! I’d seen on another post someone say they’d mixed it and it “fizzed up” so was expecting the same!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Bloat remedy recipe
« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2020, 11:35:38 am »
Yup, the bicarb will fizz up in the rumen when it hits the acids there.  When you have yoghurt in the mix, it will fizz a little bit with the lactic acid in the yoghurt I guess, which is why I said to not add it until you are ready to administer.

Sorry it didn't work with the dosing gun, sounds like you worked around that anyway, although she hasn't had any probiotics I guess.  Glad she's up and about with the others, all sounds promising :fc:
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

 

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