A series of seven experiments were carried out between May and September 1954 at the Grassland Research Institute as part of a co-operative study of bloat, which the Agricultural Research Council had helped to organize.

Hereford colour-marked steers were grazed or fed on legume-dominant herbage in an endeavour to produce pasture bloat. Observations were made to determine patterns of animal behaviour and bloat incidence. Heart rates were determined both before and during the experiments and jugular blood samples were taken for determination of cholin-esterase levels. Herbage samples were analysed botanically in order to determine the type of material eaten, and chemically for nitrogen content. Other herbage samples were placed in cold storage.

In the seven experiments (375 cattle feeding or grazing days) only twenty-seven cases of mild bloat and five cases of moderate bloat were recorded. This is surprising, because pains had been taken to provide feed that would by all normal standards be regarded as likely to induce bloat in cattle.