# cut grass for cattle?



## mesa123 (Jan 15, 2009)

Can we bag grass clippings and feed it to the cattle immediately? I always heard this was a big no-no for horses, and I figured it would be bad for cattle too. But my husband disagrees.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

Yes you can feed grass clipping to cattle, and no not good for horses or sheep as far as I`m concerned. In sheep it sometime can cause them to get impacted, and the mold is not good for horses and also cause impaction. > Marc


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## mesa123 (Jan 15, 2009)

You mean I have to tell my husband he was right? Darn....


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

This will be the first time, but yes you do. Hehe. > Marc


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

mesa123 said:


> You mean I have to tell my husband he was right? Darn....


No, just say "Fine! do whatever you want......."


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## bantams (Sep 7, 2003)

The only concern would be toxic weeds that are blended into the grass - the cow won't be able to distinguish good from bad. Plus the short fiber length of finely chopped grass is hard for the rumen to process. Small amounts are fine though.


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## shagerman (Apr 10, 2008)

i have a chopper and a wagon and i do this myself all summer long.. so yes it is great when you dont have a big enough pasture,


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## SpaceCadet12364 (Apr 27, 2003)

We have one of those Agri-fab vacuum wagons that we use with our garden tractor. We don't use chemicals on the lawn....free range guineas to keep the bugs/ticks in check.

The cows are not dumb....both ours and the neighbor across the street's angus all know when that sound starts up of the lawn mower and the vacuum wagon. They all start bellering like they are starving or something....and they are all far from that!

I swear, its like it is cow candy (we nicknamed it snackies) when we feed them the clippings. With ours (highlands) you have to be careful because they all will try to get up in there and "help" you unload it, by the mouthful, but the highlands and their horns present an extra caution.  There is usually 3 or 4 loads at least, usually give ours a couple and the neighbor's a couple. It was funny, the other day it wasn't overly dried out yet from all the rain lately, but the grass was dry enough we had to try and mow it. So didnt use the catcher.

Talk about evil stink-eye looks from BOTH sides........ :cow: .....daring to cut that grass and not give it to them! Sometimes they will follow along the fence as you cut, giving you those looks like "is it ready yet? C'mon hustle up there pardner!"


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## Menglish (May 7, 2009)

Yep, I get the same thing Speed Cadet. As soon as the lawn mower starts they start telling me to hurry up! 

On a side note about this. I read awhile back about a farmer that put all his clippings in garbage or silo bags. Then fed the stuff in the winter...grasslage??? LOL. He claimed that his cows would leave grain to eat the fermented grass clippings.

Mike


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