Acorns

[Dusty Britches]

Yesterday morning I went out to check on cows and hopefully shoot something like coyotes, hogs, or a nice deer. The cows were all eating the high quality, tasty, sweet smelling hay I'd put out the night before - except for one.

She was a long way away from the herd and at first I thought she had a baby, but I had just weaned her calf so that was not possible. I got as close as I could to her and watched for some time. She was eating acorns. She actually was moving the leaves and branches and dirt away to eat the acorns. I remembered reading here that acorns are toxic to cows, so this morning I called the vet.

Recommendation - sell her asap at the sale barn. Hopefully she won't die before then. The poison will shut down her kidneys. Once they get a taste for acorns, it won't be long. I trust my vet b/c he is a long time cattleman and every other vet talks highly of him.

The vast majority of acorns we have are from red oaks.

I guess it is like local weed - they will tend to not eat it, but when they do, they waste all of their energy looking for and eating it until they die.

I'll pen her today and sell her tomorrow, if I can.

 

[kerley]

Dont you think that the fella that buys the doomed cow will be pi$$ed. Or is this just the way some cow people think or dont think?????

 

[Nowland Farms]

Dusty,

I have seen my cows eating acorns many times over the last few years. It dosen't appear to hurt my cows.

 

[TREY-L]

Dusty,

I have seen my cows eating acorns many times over the last few years. It dosen't appear to hurt my cows.

Ditto.

 

[KenB]

Dusty,

I have seen my cows eating acorns many times over the last few years. It dosen't appear to hurt my cows.

Ditto.

Same here.

 

[STARSIX]

I notice a pile the other day and it had several acorns in it looked like they went in whole and came out the same way,, guess they cant digest them. None look sick.

 

[gerardplauche]

I've never heard of such a thing... I think she will be fine. What is poisonous in the acorn???

 

[dun]

I've never heard of such a thing... I think she will be fine. What is poisonous in the acorn???

Tannin

 

[sizmic]

I was very glad to see we had a decent acorn crop this year, with the drought and all. Hasn't seemed to hurt ours one bit.

Sizmic

 

[Caustic Burno]

Yesterday morning I went out to check on cows and hopefully shoot something like coyotes, hogs, or a nice deer. The cows were all eating the high quality, tasty, sweet smelling hay I'd put out the night before - except for one.

She was a long way away from the herd and at first I thought she had a baby, but I had just weaned her calf so that was not possible. I got as close as I could to her and watched for some time. She was eating acorns. She actually was moving the leaves and branches and dirt away to eat the acorns. I remembered reading here that acorns are toxic to cows, so this morning I called the vet.

Recommendation - sell her asap at the sale barn. Hopefully she won't die before then. The poison will shut down her kidneys. Once they get a taste for acorns, it won't be long. I trust my vet b/c he is a long time cattleman and every other vet talks highly of him.

The vast majority of acorns we have are from red oaks.

I guess it is like local weed - they will tend to not eat it, but when they do, they waste all of their energy looking for and eating it until they die.

I'll pen her today and sell her tomorrow, if I can.

Depends on the acorns as mine eat Red Oak and White Oak acorns along with everyone else in these parts. The tanic acid in live oaks will take them out.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Highly respected Vet :?: One that tells you to take a cow that will die to the sale barn. Respected,not by me,sure doesn't have any ethics either. :roll:

 

[blk mule]

Not saying anything about your vet i`m sure he or she is highly respected but, i have been around acorns many many yrs with lots of woods and plenty oak trees white, red, black and pinn oak maybe i have just been lucky. Have never had a problem with cattle horses or hogs eating acorns Still i`m not saying you can`t have trouble the risk is there. but i know the 45 yrs. i have run cattle the acorns has helped put on many lbs. of weight. I have had trouble with Buckeye poision from Buckeye but, not acorns.

blk mule

 

[Dusty Britches]

So, those of you who say it is unethical to take a potentially dead cow walking to the sale barn -

What the heck kind of management decision is that???? I'm in this business to make money, not watch it die in my pasture. A dead cow on my property is not worth anything to me or anyone else. This business is about hedging risks. It's not like I'm selling her at a replacement sale. 90% of the cull cows taken to the sale barn right now are being sold as packers and are slaughtered within a week for pet food. Furthermore, there are no express or implied guarentees when you buy cattle at the weekly sale barn. I'm sure the packers can use this cow for their needs, and I intend to fill their order.

And IF the vet and I are wrong about the acorn poisoning, and IF someone uses her as a replacement, they will be getting a great cow.

 

[sidney411]

What if you put her up in a pen or pasture w/ no acorns for enough time for them to pass through her body? Would she be OK then if she couldn't get any more acorns? or is the damage already done?

 

[Bluestem]

So, those of you who say it is unethical to take a potentially dead cow walking to the sale barn -

What the heck kind of management decision is that???? I'm in this business to make money, not watch it die in my pasture. A dead cow on my property is not worth anything to me or anyone else. This business is about hedging risks. It's not like I'm selling her at a replacement sale. 90% of the cull cows taken to the sale barn right now are being sold as packers and are slaughtered within a week for pet food. Furthermore, there are no express or implied guarentees when you buy cattle at the weekly sale barn. I'm sure the packers can use this cow for their needs, and I intend to fill their order.

And IF the vet and I are wrong about the acorn poisoning, and IF someone uses her as a replacement, they will be getting a great cow.

Sounds like you may need a new financial advisor.

 

[dun]

Ethics: moral principles, as of an individual

 

[Limomike]

Acorns and ethics...

Acorns are not toxic to my cattle. Ethics only toxic to a point.

 

[milesvb]

Depends on the acorns as mine eat Red Oak and White Oak acorns along with everyone else in these parts. The tanic acid in live oaks will take them out.

There must be another factor, soil perhaps. We mainly have live oaks, post oaks and water oaks with a few blackjack thrown in. Our cattle pick up any of them with a preference for live oaks and water oaks which seem to be more palatable (lower in tannins) than post oaks. I saw our group of replacements browsing post oak acorns for a couple weeks before I decided to move them and there was no problem. If a cow has proper nutrition and grass/hay in her belly it will go a long way towards minimizing the effects of acorns. A deprived, run down or old animal may keel over (happened to us many moons ago from post oaks). I have also read that red oak/spanish oak in the hill country are particularly high in tannins.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Depends on the acorns as mine eat Red Oak and White Oak acorns along with everyone else in these parts. The tanic acid in live oaks will take them out.

There must be another factor, soil perhaps. We mainly have live oaks, post oaks and water oaks with a few blackjack thrown in. Our cattle pick up any of them with a preference for live oaks and water oaks which seem to be more palatable (lower in tannins) than post oaks. I saw our group of replacements browsing post oak acorns for a couple weeks before I decided to move them and there was no problem. If a cow has proper nutrition and grass/hay in her belly it will go a long way towards minimizing the effects of acorns. A deprived, run down or old animal may keel over (happened to us many moons ago from post oaks). I have also read that red oak/spanish oak in the hill country are particularly high in tannins.

Good point as you won't find a live oak in a pasture around here
My pastures are full of Red and White Oaks or we have different terminology for different trees.

 

[TexasBred]

Cattle can eat acorns and not be harmed. However, some seem to become addicted to the darn things and will literally stand under a tree waiting for the next one to fall. She's the one that will die. Maybe only one cow out of a hundred. Amazing that something toxic to a cow will make a deer rolling fat.