How to prevent Abomasal Bloat in lambs/kids; Vet Explains *FAST* | Sez the Vet 

You're so welcome, Jess!

oh good I'm glad it was useful!

interesting! thanks for sharing, and glad you're finding them useful

Thanks!

I usually recommend electrolytes for the first 12 hours, and start using the first batch at just 12 hours, keeping it very small and frequent feeds. For the second batch inwards have them sitting for 24hrs

great question - definitely cold! Normally milk too cold is a cause for concern because of the risk it will accidentally go into the wrong chamber of the stomach. But so long as there is a strong sick, we should be safe, and in this case it's more important to stop and feed it cold to prevent overgrowth of nasty bacteria.

Sorry, Amilia, sometimes youtube doenst tell me there's a message if its a reply! Bit late now, but hope your little is doing okay! What I usually say to people is "only electrolytes for the first 12 hours until the first batch of yogurt is ready". They also need to be on a course of antibiotics to treat the abomasal bloat (assumign that is the course of bloat). Your case will have already run its course by now. Hope everything went okay!

Hi mark and Lauri. It should thicker for sure. There is a bit of variation based on the heat youre sitting it at (should be about 40 degrees, eg in a hot water cupboard), for 24hours. Also a bit of variation in the population of bacteria in the yogurt you're using. But yes, it usually turns out quite thick and may even need to add some water to water it down. I'm going to upload the an update recipie to this clip, which may solve the problem. Basically, the same recipie has been used by most of NZ, which has you water it down at the end. But I've been working with some nutritionists to recalculate needs and it seems that, while lambs have always been fine on it, the oringinal recipie (before my time) would have been based on a different formula. What we recommend now is make up your normal milk powder to the normal concentration you would, 4L worth. Then add 200g acidophilus yogurt and sit aside for 24hrs. If you add some water to water it down (if needed to get it to flow), then make sure they're still getting their original requirements.

Hi Sandra, thanks for your comment. Yes, there is some evidence there, as there is for other animals. Unsurprisingly, there is also some evidence for 4-in-1s offering better protection against enterotoxaemia than 8-in-1s. As a general rule, the more vaccines in the shot, the higher the chance that the body wont react as fully to each. It comes down to, then, the luxury of having these available, while still covering the highest risk diseases. In other words, I would recommend choosing the SIMPLEST vaccine that is available to you, that covers all the important diseases for your herd. Unfortunately, here in NZ, our available products that cover all the proposed causes of bloat in little bottle fed bubs, is your 10-in-1 (covering sordelii as well). In an established herd, doe-reared, where you had no issues with this, I would recommend a simpler vaccine. Not all clostridials are high risk everywhere, so best to check with the nearest goat vet if unsure. I certainly recommend shorter intervals for boosters, than sheep. But how short is a bit unclear in the research. So as a rule, I would plan for 6monthly, with one 4 weeks out from kidding to pass through the colostrum to the kids. Rightly or wrongly, I don't alter this advice depending on number of diseases covered in the vaccine.

sorry can't, don't quite understand the question. reword that for me?

oh whoops thanks for hitting me up for that! yes will upload a link to the recipe in the description of the clip, now

all done :)

Thank you!

well done! nope, no need to transition, we definitely don't want all that gas producing acidophilus bacteria entering the stomach at the same time as an non yogurtisef, lactose-containing milk. just move straight on to it. I'm not sure what the cause of the original bloat episode was for your little one (yogurtisef will only prevent abomasal), but I would recommend checking out my video called #1 cause of diarrhoea, as it talks through how much to feed and how often. depending on his size, 200ml feeds mat be far too much in one go, predisposing him to other causes of bloat (e.g. ruminal bloat). good luck!

@@SeztheVet I caused the bloat by being ignorant and giving 300mls 😬 just glad was spotted an all is well. My yoghurt is looking amazing and little one is very active and happy again. 🤞For the next few weeks!

@@fauxvixen one of the lucky few, making it out alive! well done and good luck :)

Hi Cassidy. If she is only completely grass now, now milk anymore, then this will be a ruminal bloat/distension (the big chamber where the grass grows- different to where the milk goes). Couple of things could be going on- on a high legume content pasture (a lot of clover) we can get a "frothy bloat" which is where the legumes stabilise little bubbles of gas in there, so they bloat up when they eat. You can try some bloat oil in mouth to break down the bubbles and see if she responds. But more likely it is due to an underdeveloped rumen, which isnt contracting and empyting as quickly as it should. Increase long-stemmed fibre to improve contractions - eg hay, silage. Those are the most likely causes :) All the best

Certainly not! I think that people often forget these are fragile little newborns we are dealing with. Well done for getting them through it all!

@@SeztheVet thank you!

The same quantity as you'd feed for standard milk :) If you need help calculating that, check out the "#1 cause of dietary diarrhoea" video

I do hear that from time to time. Small, frequent feeds is the way to go. :)

Hi Mandy, I have heard a lot of mention it, but what they're referring to is actually a "whey based milk powder". Which many assume is whey instead of lactose. A common misconception. The amount of lactose in the milk is no different; the difference is that the protein source is solely whey, versus whey+casein (both proteins). Casein is the protein responsible for the clotting of the milk in the baby's stomach, which is a normal process. In removing casein altogether, it means that the milk moves through the stomach much faster, and this is the reason that some claim a potentially reduced incidence of abomasal bloat. NOT because it doesn't have lactose (which gets fermented to gas), but simply becuase there is less time in the stomach for the bacteria to ferment it. However, there is no scientific evidence that it does reduce bloat, at this stage. That's not to say that it doesn't (in theory it would make sense to a degree), but the studies just haven't been done to see. Any "evidence" at this stage is is anecdotal, ie some farms have reported that they feel like it reduced the incidence, but these were certainly not controlled scientific studies. So at this stage, the only PROVEN way to prevent bloat is still to yogurtise the milk, to make it lactose free. It's acknowledged that the animals tend to feel more hungry on a whey-based milk, which I would agree with in my experience of client feedback, simply because the stomach empties faster. So you HAVE TO make sure they have hard feed from just a few days old, to eat. Some owners of pet lambs dont like this- that they seem hungry all the time. However, in forcing them to eat hard feed younger, it means the grown up stomach develops better and could theoretically mean better growth down the track at weaning (again, this is claimed to be the case, but scientific studies haven't actually been done, so all anecdotal and theoretical). Bit of a yarn there, hope that answers your question :) If it was me, I would sure as heck be yogurtising the milk, whether your feeding whey-based or standard powder. Remove the lactose = remove food for the bacteria = no gas. Thats my 2-cents :)

Just to clarify, I am certainly not saying don't use whey-based. In theory, it could make a difference. But as a medical professional it's hard to hand-on-heart promote it without the studies to back it up. Always interested to hear peoples' experiences though, if you use it let me know what you think :)

@@SeztheVet thanks heaps

Hi, yes "spoiling" with the right bacteria is exactly what we're trying to achieve with yogurtising. If you had a lot of other contaminating bacteria then it may spoil with undesirable pathogens, but thats why we keep the equipment as sterile as possible when we're preparing it. The act of yogurtising is deliberately encorouging the bacteria in the yogurt to flourish and take over the milk, thereby eating up all the lactose. You would have to have a pretty hefty load of a contaminating bacteria to get a look in really, as we add so much of the yogurt that that single population will dominate. But it is possible, which is why are careful. It should smell like yogurt. Anything else, or any mould growing on top, bif it. And yes, once we have yogurtised it, we store it in the fridge to stop any sneaky nasty bacteria jumping on the band wagon :) Thanks for the question.