United States or Aruba ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Hoove, or blown, so common, and often so speedily fatal in cattle, is the result of fermentation in the rumen, or paunch, in consequence of the animal's having eaten large quantities of wet grass, luxuriant clover, turnips, etc.
Drench the animal with one ounce of spirits of hartshorn in one quart of water, the object being to neutralize the gas which is present in the rumen; or, two ounces of table salt dissolved in one quart of water will be found very effectual. If these do not speedily give relief, an active purge should be given. Injections of soap and water should be freely used.
During the whole time of pregnancy her enormous stomach sufficiently presses upon and confines the womb; and that pressure may be productive of injurious and fatal consequences, if at this period the rumen is suffered to be distended by innutritious food, or the manyplus takes on that hardened state to which it is occasionally subject. Breeders have been sadly negligent in this respect.
After a brief mastication, the food passes directly to the rumen. Here it is subjected to a churning movement that mixes and presses the contents of the rumen forward in the direction of the oesophageal opening, where it is ready for regurgitation. It is then carried back to the mouth, remasticated and returned to the rumen. This is termed rumination.
The drinking of a large quantity of water, especially if cold, chills the wall of the rumen and interferes with its movement. Frozen feeds may act in the same way. Sudden changes in the feed, inflammation of the rumen, and a weak peristaltic movement of the paunch resulting from disease or insufficient nourishment are frequent causes. It may occur in chronic disease.
Sheep may be given about one-fourth the dose recommended for cattle. As a result, they eat greedily and the mass of feed in the rumen becomes so heavy that the walls of the organ can not move it about, and digestion is interfered with. This is especially true of succulent feeds. A diseased condition of the animal predisposes it to this disorder.
Between sixty and seventy per cent of the cellulose is digested in the rumen. The abomasum is lined by a gastric mucous membrane. The gastric juice secreted converts the protein into peptones. In the young a milk curdling ferment is also secreted by the glands of this compartment. The digestive changes may be divided into four stages.
Passing his hand over the sheep's left flank, and selecting the proper point, he punctured the skin and rumen with the lance as it stood in the tube; then he suddenly withdrew the lance, retaining the tube in its place. A current of air rushed up the tube, forcible enough to have extinguished a candle held at the orifice.
The capacity of the stomach of the ox is between twenty and thirty gallons. The four compartments into which it is divided are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum or true stomach. The rumen is the largest compartment, with a capacity of more than twenty gallons. The reticulum is the smallest, with a capacity of about one-half gallon.
The first three compartments possess no glands capable of secreting a digestive juice. However, important digestive changes occur. The carbohydrates are digested by means of enzymes contained in the feed. The most important function of the rumen and omasum is the maceration of the fibrous substances, and the digestion of the cellulose.
Word Of The Day