The effect of herbage mixtures of alfalfa and orchardgrass on the incidence of bloat in cattle

Abstract

Alfalfa herbage at the vegetative to early-bud stage of growth was simultaneously fed to cattle with alfalfa- grass mixtures containing 25, 40 or 50% orchardgrass. At all three levels of orchardgrass, there was either complete prevention of bloat or it was substantially reduced. Alfalfa alone yielded 334 cases of bloat as compared to 25 for the mixtures. During the warmest and driest intervals, bloat was reduced only by one-third when the feed alfalfa contained 25% orchardgrass. Key words: Steers, frothy bloat, Medicago sativa L., Dactylis glomerata L., mixed pastures