Cattle Diets and Nutrition

I'm not sure this has ever happened. Cows on pasture will graze all day, every day, without any ill effects.

Near the middle, since a cow is a herbivore and a prey animal, which means it eats plants and is commonly preyed on by higher-order predators like humans, wolves, lions, etc.

He doesn't. Logically a farmer feeds his cows (or cow) hay, grain and silage or lets them out to the pasture.

No. Carnivore means meat-eater. Cattle are herbivores, plant-eaters.

If you mean 'would cows eat their food in a field of potatoes', then yes, since the potatoes do not harass the cows, they would happily eat in a field of potatoes, chewing their cud.

If you mean 'would they eat what is in the field of potatoes', then really, no, since all they would eat is the grass surrounding the potatoes or the field. They would not eat the potatoes.

cows eat anything green...

The large intestine is about 5 to 6 times the length of the animal.

Depends on what kind of feed you feed them. If it's just hay and grain, no. Moldy, dusty hay isn't good for horses, but it won't kill them, it'll just make them a bit sick.

Cull cows can be put on pasture, or fed a mix of hay and grain before slaughtering them. It's advisable to put them on a bit of grain so that the meat doesn't taste to strong or is tough. Of course how the meat turns out depends on the breed and how long it is hung for.

No. Try grazing a week or so afterwards. Also read the label on when livestock can be grazed after treatment of this herbicide.

Dairy cows are mostly in barns, with only cows that are dry out in the corral with a shed. They are fed their usual diets, but those that are outdoors are given fresh straw bedding once every few days depending on the weather conditions.

Beef cattle are either in corrals being fed hay and bedded with straw or wood chips, or out on pasture with hay that is spread in rows for them. Good dry bedding and adequate shelter in the form of a shed or windbreak is important for the health and well-being of the cattleherd, as well as adequate food and water.

All cattle grow thick winter coats in the winter to shelter them from the cold. Depending on their condition, fat cows will eat less than thin cows because the extra layer of fat is enough to insulate them from the cold. Thin cows, however, need to eat more to keep their energy levels up and to keep themselves warm. Feeding thin cows cost a lot more than feeding cows that are fat or of normal condition.

Feeder cattle are young cattle (steers and heifers) that are carrying more weight or condition than stocker cattle and are ready to be put on a "hot" ration (or high-energy ration like grain) for finishing prior to slaughter. Quite often these cattle have started out as stockers or backgrounders and have been raised and fed on a high-forage-based ration to the point where they've grown enough and put on enough weight (in both fat and muscle; this is known as "condition") to be considered as feeder cattle. Feeder cattle are often between the 10 to 18 months, depending on the length of backgrounding/stockering phase they went through.

Minerals for cows are obtained from different rock or minerals sources that are crushed to very fine particles that can be easily consumed and used by the animal. Minerals are basically the some of the elements in the periodic table that are needed by the animal for various bodily functions, primarily zinc, iodine, cobalt, selenium, molybdenum, sulphur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, phosphorus, and manganese. Many soils are deficient or excessive in certain elements, and the minerals supplied give the cows what they need that the plants they eat--which gather a lot of nutrients from the soil--are lacking.

they because they feel like they need to take out their anger on trees that rarely fight back. they only fight back on Easter.

Veal is beef from a young calf that has yet to start eating plants; the meat is supposed to be tenderer than from an older cow. There are different classifications of veal, from bob veal (calf less than 10 days old) up to old veal (calf up to 4 months old).

Cows don't "regurgitate" their cud, they burp or belch it up. Since most of the feed they initially eat was eaten in a hurry, belching up a mass of partially digested food to chew it into smaller pieces helps in proper digestion and utilization of nutrients and minerals that is contained in the feed. Burping helps aleviate gases that are always building up in the rumen when microbes in the rumen release gases as they digest the feed. If these gases cannot be released, bloating ensues and if not treated immediately, the cow will die. A cow that cannot belch up her cud will certainly not last long; a cow that cannot belch up her cud is essentially a cow that either has bloat or her rumen has stopped contracting and either cases must be treated by a veterinarian or have the animal put down.

Most of the cases that involves the rumen not contracting involves having the cow put down since a rumen that is not contracting either means the nerves responsible for ruminal contractions are damaged far beyond repair or the animal itself is too far gone to be helped.

Bloat, if not too far gone, can be treated by having the animal walk or run it off if the case is mild, by tubing it with a plastic tube put down its esophagus and draining detergent or mineral oil into the rumen, or for more severe cases, use of a trocar to quickly expell the gases directly from the rumen by piercing the rumen wall. The latter is more of a last resort to aleviate bloat, as using a trocar has risk of the rumen wall developing infection if not cleaned and sewn back up after all excess gases have been released. The prefered methods of treating bloat is chasing the animal or tubing it, or better yet, preventative methods such as feeding a bloat-prevention block of mineral, letting your cows graze high protein-quality feeds when they are not hungry, having roughage available for the cows to eat as a way to help digestion, etc.

All cows or ruminants a like should be able to belch up their cud in order to have a healthy digestion system and gastro-intestinal tract. If not, then they will die if not treated right away.

A common misconception is that 80% of antibiotics used in cattle (or livestock in general) are used in humans. The fact of the matter is that to generate such a percentage is not that simple as simply getting some simple percent to wave around in everyone's faces.

There are many more livestock in North America (more emphasis placed on the US of A) than humans, and most of these livestock are larger and need a bigger dose of medicine--including antibiotic--than the average human needs. Also, many antibiotics used in human medicine are different than what are used in animals.

See, 13 percent of antibiotics, in the form of ionophores (the most common form, being monensin, is not used in humans) make up the antibiotic total. The rest of the total of what the FDA had provided--as in a little over 13 million antibiotics--are used for sick animals, not on healthy animals just so the farmer can "make a quick buck."

Bottom line is that it is quite impossible to glean an exact percentage of antibiotics used in livestock like cattle, no matter how you try to look at it or work around it.

Though I cannot give you the balanced diet of a herd of cows , I can give you and define a balanced diet for a herd of cows. A balanced diet for cows is also called a complete ration, and is a ration that meets all the nutritional requirements for a herd of cows based on their weight, physiological and reproductive needs, breeding, reproductive/lactation stages, age, class, and feeds available.

Cattle that are laying (or sitting) in the grass, or cattle laying down in the pasture.

There are four (4) chambers or compartments in a cow's stomach. See the related question below for more information.

Watusi's eat grass, just like other breeds of cattle do.

The esophagus is an organ in vertebrates which consists of a muscular tube through which food passes from the pharynx to the stomach.

What kind of "cow" are you referring to? Is this a young calf or an older cow? Cows refer to mature female bovines. And your "cow" may be ill; not eating is a common symptom of a bovine that is sick.

Rumen bacteria has been obtained when they were young calves when they mouthed, licked or eaten various things that contain bacteria that another cow or calf has also mouthed, licked or eaten, thus directly transferring bacteria and thus swallowing it into their digestive tracts. A calf will also get bacteria from suckling on a calf nipple from a bottle or bucket that has not been sterilized, and also from the teat of his dam. Mature cows (and bulls) will ingest bacteria much the same way as a calf will, minus the suckling from a bottle or momma's udder.

1. Texas

2. Nebraska

3. Kansas

4. Colorado

5. Iowa

6. California

7. South Dakota

8. Oklahoma

9. Arizona

10. Minnesota

Source 1997 Census of Agriculture