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Extreme clover growth contributes to frothy bloat in Kentucky cattle

By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The state’s cattle industry has not had a good spring with the discovery of bovine tuberculosis last month, and now a request for a disaster declaration due to the number of cattle deaths caused by primary ruminal tympany, more commonly known as frothy bloat.

Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer made the request to Gov. Steve Beshear and has been in touch with U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) and John W. McCauley, state executive director of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, to ask about the release of relief funds through the Livestock Indemnity Program for Kentucky cattlemen whose herds have been affected by bloat, according to information from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA.)

“Weather conditions that led to bloat began three summers ago, when back-to-back droughts in 2007 and 2008 weakened grass stands in pastures across Kentucky,” Farmer said. “Then this spring, a dry April caused grass to lie dormant, followed by a wet May that caused white clover to grow higher and faster than grass.”
Information from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture indicates frothy bloat is different from gaseous bloat, which happens more when cattle are consuming grain, and it’s also more difficult to relieve.

“Usually frothy bloat happens when cattle are grazing forages that are high in soluble protein combined with rapid fermentation,” said Jeff Lehmkuhler, extension beef specialist for the UK College of Agriculture. “It produces a stable foam in the rumen that blocks the normal escape of the gas from fermentation through eructation or belching.”

Michelle Bilderback, UK College of Agriculture extension veterinarian said when the gas cannot escape, the cow’s rumen becomes distended similar to blowing up a balloon, and that can impact the animal’s ability to breathe normally because of pressure against the diaphragm.

Lehmkuhler added that at this point, the condition seems to be a regional event with some areas reporting cattle losses while others have reported none.

“It appears to be somewhat regional in nature which is a good thing that it doesn’t seem to be widespread in the state, but there certainly are some producers that have suffered some losses,” he said.

Tim White, a cattle farmer in Fayette and Jessamine Counties is one of those producers to experience losses, and said he has never seen anything like this.

“We’ve never had this problem before, and I haven’t talked to anyone who has. I have some friends in their 70’s and 80’s that have farmed all their lives and they said they have never seen clover this thick.”

White has tried to keep the ailment in check by using feeding supplements, rotating pastures and mowing. He also said that in April when the condition first spiked, the animal removal services couldn’t keep up with all the dead animals in certain areas.
“We buried some of our own because they just couldn’t keep up,” he said.

White estimates his losses to be over seven percent on a 150-cow group. He added that on the farms, where he doesn’t have clover, he has suffered no losses.

Lehmkuhler said that increase in cases last April was followed by a lull only to have another increase in mid-May.

“We were seeing this issue come up from county agents in the middle of April and it seemed like things got quiet for a while then all of a sudden in the middle part of May seemed like it began to reoccur,” he said. “We put together a short questionnaire and asked our county agents to contact some of their producers at random, trying to access how big of a problem this was.”

At last count, Lehmkuhler had received almost 300 responses and based on those responses he said preliminary information indicates about 35 percent of responders had some kind of losses to bloat this season or about 670 head.

He also said that based on information available since 2005, the numbers of cattle being a loss to the condition escalated this year. For instance, in April from 2005 to 2009 no cases to three were reported at the UK Diagnostic Lab, this year the count jumped to 33.

The double-edged sword in the situation is the fact that the presence of clover in a forage stand is a good thing. It improves the performance of the animal said Lehmkuhler. It’s just the presence of too much that has created the problem.

“One thing we want to be careful on is not to discourage producers from incorporating clovers into their grass stands because in most years we struggle to keep clover in the stands at levels to improve the performance of grazing cattle,” he said.

The condition doesn’t necessarily mean death to the animal if it is caught in time, but like anything else on the farm, management is key, according to Lehmkuhler.

“The thing that I would encourage folks to do is monitor their pastures and try and access how much legume is in the stand and access the risk of bloat that way,” he said.

Feed additives to prevent and reduce bloat severity can be used. Lehmkuhler said poloxalene is a proven bloat-preventing feed additive; however, it can be costly.

UK information indicates that producers commonly use poloxalene blocks for their convenience, but producers can also get poloxalene in a powder form to mix in supplements or mineral mixtures.
During periods of severe bloat risk, Lehmkuhler said the target intake level of poloxalene is two grams per 100 pounds of body weight.

“You can reduce it to one gram per 100 pounds of body weight as the risk to bloat diminishes,” he said. “It is recommended that poloxalene be added two to three days prior to introduction into pastures that are at risk to promote bloat.  Poloxalene must also be consumed on a daily basis as there is no carryover protection.”
The clover should begin to dissipate with warm dry weather. Producers concerned about bloat are encouraged to contact their local county agricultural extension agent and veterinarians.

6/16/2010