Pumped Rumen Fluid Makes Sick Cows Healthy Again
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A lot of time and money is spent treating sick dairy cows, often with less than desirable results. A new process that extracts rumen fluid from a healthy cow and then “drenches” it into the sick cow was on display at the recent World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. It promises to reduce the need for antibiotics and prevent milk contamination.
The entire process is called “transfaunation” and it requires pumping equipment to remove pure rumen fluid from a healthy herd mate to give to a sick cow.
The Rumen-Mate system comes with a 6 1/2-gal. plastic bucket with hand pump and a perforated rumen wand that’s slipped down into the rumen with the cow’s head restrained. A red mark on the hose indicates the distance between the cow’s nose and the bottom of the rumen.
You push the hose in slightly past the red mark to ensure the hose goes well into the rumen and then pump the fluid into the pail. Using the same bucket and pump, you insert a hose into the sick cow and pump the healthy rumen fluid into her.
The current standard procedure to accomplish this task involves removal of all rumen contents. These contents must then be processed to separate the rumen fluid from the feed particles, which is time consuming and detrimental to the donor cow.
The company offers a variety of Drench-Mate systems depending on herd size. The largest one comes with a 300-gal. tank and gas engine mounted on a trailer. It holds enough drench for 30 to 60 cows and can drench 2 cows at a time.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Drench-Mate, 3203 Halverstick Rd., Sumas, Wash. 98295 (ph 360 988-5020; info@drenchmate.com; www.drenchmate.com).
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Pumped Rumen Fluid Makes Sick Cows Healthy Again DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS A lot of time and money is spent treating sick dairy cows often with less than desirable results A new process that extracts rumen fluid from a healthy cow and then “drenches” it into the sick cow was on display at the recent World Dairy Expo in Madison Wis It promises to reduce the need for antibiotics and prevent milk contamination The entire process is called “transfaunation” and it requires pumping equipment to remove pure rumen fluid from a healthy herd mate to give to a sick cow The Rumen-Mate system comes with a 6 1/2-gal plastic bucket with hand pump and a perforated rumen wand that’s slipped down into the rumen with the cow’s head restrained A red mark on the hose indicates the distance between the cow’s nose and the bottom of the rumen You push the hose in slightly past the red mark to ensure the hose goes well into the rumen and then pump the fluid into the pail Using the same bucket and pump you insert a hose into the sick cow and pump the healthy rumen fluid into her The current standard procedure to accomplish this task involves removal of all rumen contents These contents must then be processed to separate the rumen fluid from the feed particles which is time consuming and detrimental to the donor cow The company offers a variety of Drench-Mate systems depending on herd size The largest one comes with a 300-gal tank and gas engine mounted on a trailer It holds enough drench for 30 to 60 cows and can drench 2 cows at a time Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Drench-Mate 3203 Halverstick Rd Sumas Wash 98295 ph 360 988-5020; info@drenchmate com; www drenchmate com
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