bloating steer

i have a show steer for the fair who has a seriius problem. everytime we feed him, no matter what the food, he always bloats. he is strictly fed umbarger feed, and grass. for some time that seemed to be working but sometimes he will still bloat. i want him to look presenatble for the fair, and with the bloat he looks sick. he has never had to be tubed and he always keeps eating. what should i do??

put tab spoon baking soda on his feed at every feeding or mineral oil both work well

There are several things you can do.  No. 1 is insure him if you can! ;D    I don't know how far out from show you are and what he is weighing, but I would keep feeding him and getting him fat.  If you have to cut back on anything, cut back on the feed and make up the volume in grass hay.  (Make sure your hay is grass and doesn't have any alfalfa in it).  Since you said you haven't tubed him yet, I take it that he is just one of those that blows up and then goes down.  I personally think putting them in cool barns adds to the problem because they don't get as much excercise.  Walking them or just getting them moving helps with digestion -  just like in humans.  Add the baking soda to the feed and some probios wouldn't hurt either. Finally, when you are a couple days from show, put him on pretty much hay only.  He should stay slim and trim for the big day.

Go to the vet and ask for a Rumensin CRC bolus. It slow releases monensin into the rumen and lasts for 80 days. It is a big capsule with wings so it has a special gun to adminster as well. Once you have the gun though you dont need to buy it again as it will last forever. Works great - the calf wil stop bloating within a day and will be fine. Capsule lasts 80 days in the rumen. You will look at the capsule and wonder how the heck you will get it down the throat - but follow the directions its easy.

Had a pasture with lots of alfalfa that was too rough to cut but too new to plow down - gave the steers I had on grass each a bolus before they went in and had no bloating issues. The slow release monensin slows down the breakdown of protein in the rumen and you dont get the bloat. Best gaining steers i ever had on pasture with great peace of mind. Had a 4-H heifer bloat on anything and everything all of a sudden 4 years ago. I tried everything - I thought we would find her dead for sure - Thats how I learned about the boluses. Gave her a bolus and she never bloated again. Sometimes the rumen gets lazy and needs help to get going again. That heifer is still in the herd - I never had to give her another bolus. It also reduces methane gas production and stops coccidiosis as well. Excellent product. After you can give probiotics to repopulate the rumen with good bugs as the bloat will really throw the rumen out of wack. Good luck

www.docstoc.com/docs/70269063/ETV_Canada_fs_Elanco_pg1-copy

here is the Canadian Vet Assurance protocol on the product in case you want more detail on exactly what it does.

Our herf bloats all the time. Usually every other day. Nothing seems to work on him so we feed him, he bloats, we turn out at night with nothing and he comes in the next morning fine! Hurts our weight gain but at least he isnt bloated on show day!

my steer did the same thing just put baking soda in feed i put in kinda alot like id fill up your hand you can buy big bags of it they r ment for pools i think but its cheaper that way it helped my steer alot

I would take it seriously, sounds like my daughters steer. It died in the barn a week ago. Two weeks before the county fair.

Since your fair is coming up make certain there is not a slaughter withdraw time on that bolus if you use it....

No withdrawal time on Rumensin - feed it right up to slaughter. Thats not an issue.

It is pretty common for show cattle up here to get a bolus and be safe. You dont want to lose that prize show heifer/bull/steer because one day she ate a little more then she should have.

Have not really had to many problems with this but the Rumensin CRC bolus and gun is def starting to sound like a good investment.