The Bovine Bugle

COWS WITH TWISTED STOMACHS AND ALLERGIES

One of my cows that calved two weeks ago had to have surgery. This cow had been acting sluggish and was off-her-feed (not eating or drinking very much). After treating her myself for a couple of days we decided to have the vet come and check her out. It turns out she had a DA (displaced abomasum) or "twisted stomach." To fix the problem, the vet makes a small incision in the cow’s side, releases the gas in the section of stomach that has been blocked off, pulls the section of stomach out a bit at a time to take out the twist, and then stitches the section of stomach to the abdomen wall to prevent it from twisting again. The whole process takes about an hour. Dr. Williams felt the surgery went very well and that the cow should perk up over the next few days. This twisted stomach phenomenon is relatively rare for us. We usually do only one or two of theses surgeries a year. The long stem hay in the round bales we feed helps the rumen to function normally and helps prevent twisted stomachs. Farms that feed fine chopped haylage and corn silage are apt to have a higher incidence of twisted stomachs.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont