# Will cows eat nearly anything...



## DJ in WA (Jan 28, 2005)

Obviously if starving they will - mine are far from it.

My wife gets stuff they're going to throw away at school. Brought home half a garbage bag of oranges cut in half the kids wouldn't eat - tasteless and full of seeds.

Threw a couple to the cows who weren't thrilled, but they were gone later that night. Been feeding a couple per cow once a day.

Then we occasionally have a quart of cream go sour. I figured, why not recycle it. Cow loves it.


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## Christiaan (Mar 13, 2004)

My Highlands will eat almost anything that comes out of the kitchen. They are very fond of grapefruit rinds and banana peels. And of course bread, lots and lots of bread.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Many years ago I had a lovely old Jersey called Milo. She shared a paddock with my pet pig (this was before I learnt to keep cattle and pigs separate). I fed the pig one night and went off to do something else. A few minutes later there is a right ding-dong-do coming from the paddock with PeeWee pig making all the noise. I rushed around and there's Milo with her big head stuck in PeeWee's feed dish and slurping it up. This might not have been so bad except the pig food was cooked and comprised of restaurant scraps (meat), bakery scraps (more meat in the form of pies), fat from a fish and chip shop, vegetables and milk - most of it a definate no-go area for cows. So yes, a quiet cow will eat just about anything.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## MTplainsman (Oct 12, 2007)

Don't know about table scraps or garden waste, but I do know that cows will not eat certian plants or grasses even if they are on thier last legs. Some grasses that are ideal roughage for cattle when in the young stages, won't be touched when headed out! No, they won't eat anything!


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## HazyDay (Feb 20, 2007)

On here some one posted a picture of a cow eatting a chicken! So they will eat anything! (if they are hungry!) I know for years my aunt would feed their cows peelings. Only one cow would eat it and only her dauthers! Well after that line was culled (bad udders and old age) no other cow will eat the stuff now! But they have goats now so they will eat almost any table foods! (If we would eat it they will also!)


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## de Molay (Sep 23, 2006)

I would not feed animal scraps or animal by products to ruminants. That is how mad cow disease started. Also cows can be very prone to bloating and dying. They have more than one stomach, upset the balance and bad things have been known to happen. Garden scraps should be ok.


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## john in la (Jul 15, 2005)

While cows will not eat anything they will eat stuff you never consider giving to them.

Take some plants.........
They will not touch some weeds. You can see this everyday just by riding around and looking at fields that have weeds growing. The grass will look front lawn mowed but the weeds will be 2' tall.
It is also bad to give them kitchen waste because it may have meat in it. If you can keep the meat out it is OK for them but leave the meat mix for the pigs and cook it.

But on the other hand you can take chicken dropping from a broiler house and mix it with their grain. After a short adjustment period they will eat these dropping and grow just as well as if you feed them pure grain.

So in my book cows eat just about anything.


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## de Molay (Sep 23, 2006)

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators may announce within two months new limits on what cattle can be fed, as part of an effort to control mad cow disease. 

``We hope that a rule will be forthcoming in the next month or two,'' Steve Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine, told reporters today on a conference call. 

The U.S. in 1997 banned feeding ground-up parts of cattle back to other cattle, which scientists say spreads mad cow disease. After the U.S. found its first case of the brain-wasting livestock illness in December 2003, critics said ground-up parts of other animals should also be banned. 

The new regulations would be part of the U.S. effort to protect public health and restore confidence in the $170 billion U.S. livestock industry. The first U.S. case of mad cow disease, in a dairy cow later traced to Canada, prompted more than 60 nations to place restrictions on U.S. beef, threatening exports valued at $3.8 billion in 2003. 

Mad cow disease, which has a fatal human form, appears to spread when cows or steers eat ground-up parts of infected animals. The U.S. confirmed its second case of the disease in June in a 12-year-old animal born and raised in Texas. 

The FDA rules may include a ban using table scraps in cattle feed, as well as poultry litter. Since chicken feed can still contain ground-up cattle parts, scientists say those remnants could be passed back to cattle in feed containing poultry litter. 

Total Ban in U.K. 

A total ban on all animal protein in cattle feed would mirror the position of the European Union and the U.K., where the disease, clinically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, first surfaced in the 1980's and which has had more than 150,000 cases. 

The government today also said that it had concluded its investigation into the most recent case of mad cow disease and that the infected animal probably contracted the livestock illness by eating tainted feed before the 1997 ban. Some 67 head of cattle from the same farm where the infected cow was raised were killed and tested for mad cow disease and all tests were negative, officials said. 

More Testing 

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today said the USDA has started testing 20,000 healthy animals for BSE, part of its effort to determine the prevalence of the disease in U.S. herds. Since last June, the government has screened 452,760 head of cattle, concentrating on those that appeared sick when presented at slaughter or were already dead. Scientists say these animals would be most likely to have the disease. The screenings have provided only one positive result. 

``We've started with the testing of the 20,000 healthy animals and we hope to have that done in the next 60 days,'' said Johanns, who said the screening program will continue indefinitely. The USDA initially said the program would last about 12 months to 18 months. 

``I am not prepared to bring the surveillance program to a conclusion,'' Johanns said. 



To contact the reporters on this story: 
Daniel J. Goldstein in Washington at [email protected]; 
Kerry Young in Washington at [email protected].


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