Feeding Livestock with Fresh Wheat Bran Requires Vigilance Against Stomatitis

Many breeders are accustomed to feeding fresh wheat bran directly to livestock, and untreated fresh wheat bran often punctures the oral mucosa of livestock and causes stomatitis.

After livestock develop stomatitis, they want to eat but refuse food; they take feed into their mouths but dare not chew, or after chewing a few bites they spit the feed back out; white turbid mucus continuously flows from the mouth; and wheat awns can be seen stuck all over the tooth roots and the base of the tongue in the oral cavity.

Once this disease occurs, first clean the wheat awns from the livestock's oral cavity thoroughly, then rinse the oral cavity with clean water to prevent infection. Then apply calcined gypsum powder to the affected area, 3 times a day for 3 consecutive days. You can also mix rapeseed stalk ash with sesame oil and apply it to the affected area. You can also coat the sick animal's oral cavity with 1% sulfonamide glycerol emulsion, applying 3 times a day for 3 consecutive days.

The best way to prevent stomatitis is to alkalize fresh wheat bran before feeding it. Treatment method: soak fresh wheat bran in 0.3% limewater; the amount of limewater depends on the amount of wheat bran, and generally it should be enough to submerge the wheat bran; after soaking for 30 minutes, scoop out the wheat bran and pile it on a wooden board or concrete floor to sweat, so that the fresh wheat bran becomes alkalized and soft, then rinse it clean with water and it can be fed. This not only prevents stomatitis in livestock, but also improves the palatability of the feed, increases the calcium content, and makes livestock less susceptible to osteomalacia.