Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Tubing and the oesophageal groove  (Read 2279 times)

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« on: April 23, 2018, 10:58:25 pm »
I've just made myself curious.

I was writing about the importance of doing bottle feeding correctly, especially with very young lambs, so that the milk arrives in the abomasum and not in the rumen or reticulum.  I was explaining about the oesophageal groove forming a tube that delivers the milk into the correct stomach, once the reflex is established.

It made me wonder how we ever manage to get the stomach tube into the right stomach?  And how we would know?  I am happy about making sure it is in "the stomach" as opposed to the lungs - but what makes it land in the abomasum rather than the reticulum or omasum?

(I found the diagrams on this page rather helpful. It's about calves but the same applies to other ruminants.)
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

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2018, 06:10:06 am »
I think that it works because in really young animals the rumen is not developed so neither will the other two stomachs be operational. 

fsmnutter

  • Joined Oct 2012
  • Fettercairn, Aberdeenshire
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2018, 09:07:52 am »
It's also to do with the extended angle you put the head at to pass the tube down, it will help it to pass through the groove.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2018, 09:19:01 am »
It's also to do with the extended angle you put the head at to pass the tube down, it will help it to pass through the groove.

So that extended - almost vertical - angle is really important then.
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

bazzais

  • Joined Jan 2010
    • Allt Y Coed Farm and Campsite
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2018, 05:56:02 pm »
wow - an important read for tonight as i didnt know to miss anything but the lungs, ive always kinda inserted enough tube so i can hold it strainght with head up and on its nose and still had one jand to pour the milk in

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2018, 08:22:54 pm »
wow - an important read for tonight as i didnt know to miss anything but the lungs, ive always kinda inserted enough tube so i can hold it strainght with head up and on its nose and still had one jand to pour the milk in

Ditto!
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

pharnorth

  • Joined Nov 2013
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2018, 09:20:07 am »
Interesting. Thank you for sharing this Sally. I'm thinking the swallow reflex when the tube first goes down must help make the oesophageal groove receptive. Very occasionally I've had the experience when I think it has been presented correctly but towards the end it doesn't feel right and so I have removed it completely and started again and then it has felt normal. On those occasions perhaps the placing of the tube has not been timed right to get to benefit from that swallow reflex. 

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2018, 11:49:11 am »
Actually yes, now you describe it, I think I’ve had that.

How do we describe the correct feel for people who who are new to it?  Measuring the expected length of the swallowed tube is obviously a help. 
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

pharnorth

  • Joined Nov 2013
  • Cambridgeshire
Re: Tubing and the oesophageal groove
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2018, 03:38:36 pm »
Yes. I was taught to take a rough measurement from throat to stomach (for my coloured Ryelands it is about a the same as the extended length of my hand) then I (mentally) mark on the tube how much of the tube I expect to still be able to see when it is fully inserted.  It feels right when it goes all the way to the mark and feels like it has reached a definite 'stop'.  The times when it does not feel right it has met resistance a few centimetres too early (about 3 to 6 perhaps?).  The resistance feels 'tight' but as if it would carry on if I pushed it.  If you pull,it back a bit and try again it usually has the same resistance, you have to go all the way out and start again which makes sense if it is the swallow reflex that is needed.

Your diagram just looks consistent with that resistance being the point before rather than after the oesophageal groove.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2018, 03:40:38 pm by pharnorth »

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS