Farmer saves bloated cow by puncturing its side and deflating it - like a balloon
- 6 months ago
A farmer saved a bloated young cow's life by puncturing its side and deflating it - like a balloon.
Adam Todd, 40, discovered that a calf at his farm was suffering from "bloat" and had to save it by performing a ruminal puncture.
The calf had filled up with trapped gas - and was inflated like a beach ball - in a case so severe that the animal was 15 minutes from death, according to Adam.
A video shows Adam puncturing the animal to let the gas out and relieve pressure on its lungs allowing it to breathe again.
Adam, who lives in Tama, Iowa, USA, said: "He would have been dead in 15 minutes. The gas had built up so fast and was putting pressure on his lungs.
"It has to happen very fast and the results can happen just as fast as well. You can see in the video that he starts to move."
Adam has been performing the procedure on cattle since he was 16 years old and while he doesn't do it all the time, he is no stranger to it.
Bloat occurs when gas builds up in cattle and it can lead to death for a multitude of reasons.
It normally happens when cattle are fed substandard feed and the change in diet affects the cow's gut microflora.
In this case, the calf had laid down in a way that caused its food to block its stomach and it had woken up too big to move.
Adam explained: "People were astounded when they saw my video. It's just a shocking thing to see but it isn't too rare.
"You use anything you can, this time I had a three-by-sixteen bore needle that we had leftover from a while ago.
"It was a needle that we use to put implants in cows to control their heat or promote growth.
"We don't do that anymore, but it was perfect for this."
Adam Todd, 40, discovered that a calf at his farm was suffering from "bloat" and had to save it by performing a ruminal puncture.
The calf had filled up with trapped gas - and was inflated like a beach ball - in a case so severe that the animal was 15 minutes from death, according to Adam.
A video shows Adam puncturing the animal to let the gas out and relieve pressure on its lungs allowing it to breathe again.
Adam, who lives in Tama, Iowa, USA, said: "He would have been dead in 15 minutes. The gas had built up so fast and was putting pressure on his lungs.
"It has to happen very fast and the results can happen just as fast as well. You can see in the video that he starts to move."
Adam has been performing the procedure on cattle since he was 16 years old and while he doesn't do it all the time, he is no stranger to it.
Bloat occurs when gas builds up in cattle and it can lead to death for a multitude of reasons.
It normally happens when cattle are fed substandard feed and the change in diet affects the cow's gut microflora.
In this case, the calf had laid down in a way that caused its food to block its stomach and it had woken up too big to move.
Adam explained: "People were astounded when they saw my video. It's just a shocking thing to see but it isn't too rare.
"You use anything you can, this time I had a three-by-sixteen bore needle that we had leftover from a while ago.
"It was a needle that we use to put implants in cows to control their heat or promote growth.
"We don't do that anymore, but it was perfect for this."