WASILLA, Alaska — A bread overdose is being blamed for the deaths of seven cows at a prison farm north of Anchorage.
The cows died Aug. 22 at the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm as a result of bloat from eating too much bread, state Department of Corrections officials said Thursday.
The bread was mixed in with the feed, a combination of hay and green, leafy vegetables and vegetable trimmings, for the 100-head herd.
Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz said the farm had previously added bread to the mix without incident. But the seven cows apparently ate from inadequately mixed feed and consumed too much bread.
“We’ve changed policies and procedures so that they do not feed bread, or feed it only to the swine herd, not to the cattle,” Schmitz said.
Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm is a minimum-security correctional center that houses 112 male offenders. The farm grows vegetables and raises chickens and cattle for feedstock.
Schmitz said the seven cows that died were not salvaged for meat.
State veterinarian Dr. Robert Gerlach said cattle are sometimes fed bread or grain products. Cattle like the high-carbohydrate, high-energy food and it can provide good weight gain, he said. However, he said if a cow overeats on grain products there can be disastrous and rapid effects.
Cattle have four stomachs. The largest is the rumen, where bacteria ferment what they eat. If a lot of bacteria are present in the rumen and a large amount of grain is added, the fermentation process speeds up. The finely ground grain in bread provides a lot of surface area for the bacteria to attack, speeding the process further, he said.
“It creates a lot of gas and a slime,” Gerlach said. “Normally a cow, when they start to produce gas, they just burp it up. With that slime in there, they can’t burp it up.”
In short, the stomach enlarges rapidly, placing pressure on the esophagus, lungs, heart and circulatory system, and without a way to release the buildup, the animal can die. The process can happen when cows get into a field of grain, clover or alfalfa, he said. It can be fatal within a couple of hours.
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