252 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



ized by the amount of feed in the stomach. On the 

 other hand, if the stomach is empty, it enters the cir- 

 culation at once, the animal is soon affected by the 

 poison and remedial measures are seldom in time. 



Bloat. As bloat is not the result of a poison it comes 

 immediately under the head of mechanically dangerous 

 plants. It is confined principally to alfalfa, although all 

 the legumes, like red and white clover, will cause bloat 

 in stock when eaten under certain conditions. There 

 are several range plants which will do this. Cattle 

 eating large quantities of lupines after heavy rains or 

 when wet with heavy dews have been known to bloat 

 and die, but stockmen's losses from bloat in the West 

 are almost wholly confined to the feeding of alfalfa. 



Generally speaking, the dangerous time is when the 

 alfalfa is from three to eight inches in height, and also 

 when wet with heavy dews or recent rains. The usual 

 method of handling it in the early spring is to sow 

 among the plants some seed like oats or barley. This 

 springs up with the alfalfa and is cropped with the 

 latter as the stock grazes, thus keeping the stomach 

 from becoming solid with the gas producing plant. 



Bloat is simply the gas produced from fermenting 

 feed, which gradually crowds the stomach and other 

 organs forward until the action of the heart and lungs 

 is seriously interfered with. The work of the gas may 

 readily be noted by standing behind the animal. The 

 left side of the body will be seen to protrude several 

 inches farther than the right, forming a huge lump just 

 back of the ribs and making the animal appear de- 

 cidedly "lop-sided." This is the distended stomach 

 pressing against the hide of the animal. 



Old alfalfa-raised cows feeling the pressure coming 



