Hay / Forage Hack
I can’t tell you how often I hear about bloat in show lambs. Goats and steers it’s a little less often, but regardless… the problem is chronic. The issue at hand is that people forget to make sure the ruminants have enough fiber or forage in their diet. When the rumen is full, consistently, your animal will be healthier and gain weight easier. The why on this one is because you need to keep the billions of bugs in the rumen happy and some of them rely on forage solely as their feed. These rumen bugs work as a team…if one's not happy, none are working their best.
A couple symptoms of problems with too little forage sit on both sides of the pendulum. If your show wether has runny manure then you certainly need more forage in their diet. On the other side of the spectrum, if your steer just picks at his feed, but devours hay, you may need to increase the hay to get the rumen working, and then increase the amount of grain he gets.
Some animals are picky eaters, some are piggly eaters. You will know best what type of animal you have and how to feed them daily. That said, making sure either one has enough forage in their diet to keep the rumen working is key.
Our new product, THICC , which is designed to add cover and bloom to all species, requires that you keep the rumen happy with ample forage in the diet.
