Bloat

Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
If cattle or sheep are allowed to graze on green alfalfa or clover or they get out of their pastures and gaze on green corn they bloat. Why don't deer?

The question popped into my mind when I read the alfalfa thread and turning goats out to control the field instead of mowing was mentioned. I wondered if there was such a thing as goat bloat. There is definitely 'Bonker bloat, but I never lose my ability to eructate.

So why don't deer, ruminates that they are, bloat when they eat the same stuff other bloaters eat?

The ‘Bonker
 
On page 301 of The Deer of North America By Leonard Lee Rue III, he states that deer can bloat.

I think the free range nature of deer minimizes the chance of bloating. Most bloat problems in livestock occur when they are moved from an area with little food into a lush pasture. The "flora" of the stomach is not use to the sudden richeness of the diet and bloating can be an issue. Since deer roam widely, they rarely encounter such "bonanzas" and the bacteria in their stomachs has time to adjust to the more gradual changes in their diet. Just a guess on my part. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
i'll throw out a guess. cows, sheep and goats are all domestic animals, and have had all the "coommon sense" (for lack of a better term) bred out of them. they are used to doing all their foraging out of a feed bunk. when they get out of their pens, and hit a hayfield, they go crazy and overeat. kind of like bonker at an open bar.

deer, on the other hand, are still wild animals, and as such have constant access to the food they need. they don't gorge themselves on a hay field, as they can just return the next night to get more
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I think the free range nature of deer minimizes the chance of bloating. Most bloat problems in livestock occur when they are moved from an area with little food into a lush pasture. The "flora" of the stomach is not use to the sudden richeness of the diet and bloating can be an issue. Since deer roam widely, they rarely encounter such "bonanzas" and the bacteria in their stomachs has time to adjust to the more gradual changes in their diet. Just a guess on my part </div></div>

I think Randy has it figured out... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

Teeroy has a point as well because neither cows or sheep are the smartest critters around. They are like a kid in a candy shop when they get into lush feed whereas deer "live" in the candy shop 24-7... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
I would say the difference is in the way they eat, a deer will not gorge themselves in a clover field like a cow would, they eat lots of stuff on the way there and back to help supplement. Also, they are eating clover from the start of green-up to finish and not put out in a lush clover field one day with nothing else to eat since they are free ranging unlike cows.

Obviously cows and deer would not eat the same at a corn pile either :)
 
Jrnbronc is correct. I have grazing alfalfa and white clovers in my pastures with no problems.
 
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