Cattle in the garden

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Julian

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Inman, Kansas
We just purchased a new property that has a barnlot. The previous owners used it as a garden area and then abandoned their garden. There are tomatoes, green beans, squash, peppers, etc.

They will have plenty of good quality hay and there is a good mat of bermuda grass covering the rest of the lot.

Would there be any problem wiht me just turning the cattle in on the overgrown garden? For example, are tomatoes toxic to cattle, etc.?

Any suggestions?
 
andybob":zb5lugjm said:
Tomato and potato plants are toxic, it would be safer to clear these out before allowing cattle in.

I wouldn't have guessed that a potato plant would be toxic to cattle as there are a lot of catle in feedlots in Idaho that are fed the byproducts of processed potatoes. Interesting.

Thanks,
Julian
 
Julian":3pjo25nq said:
andybob":3pjo25nq said:
Tomato and potato plants are toxic, it would be safer to clear these out before allowing cattle in.

I wouldn't have guessed that a potato plant would be toxic to cattle as there are a lot of catle in feedlots in Idaho that are fed the byproducts of processed potatoes. Interesting.

Thanks,
Julian

I think but I'm not sure that both taters and maters are in roughly the same family as nightshade.
 
The plants {leaves} are poisonous but the actual potatoes and tomatoes aren't. However tomatoes are in the category as apples and ferment in the cows stomach.

Rhubarb leaves are poisonous as well I believe.
 
dun":3o0rlelu said:
[
I think but I'm not sure that both taters and maters are in roughly the same family as nightshade.

That is my understanding as well, Dunn, the fruit/tubers are safe, but the foliage is toxic.
Hillsdown, several of my British reference books mention rhubarb as being poison, so your information is also spot on!
 
Sure do wish these last few posts on the tomato thing would have been sooner. I spent and hour in manure, mud and sleet picking up tomatoes I had thrown out there :oops:
 
I spent a fair amount of time cleaning out the garden today and after the tomato incident yesterday I'm kinda skittish about throwing anything else to the cows. I let them have at the pumpkins, squash, sweet corn, beans earlier. Won't let them in the tomatoes now, but my last garden is swiss chard and lettuces. Is there anything wrong with them getting that?
 
MistyMorning":3c8x5y2s said:
I spent a fair amount of time cleaning out the garden today and after the tomato incident yesterday I'm kinda skittish about throwing anything else to the cows. I let them have at the pumpkins, squash, sweet corn, beans earlier. Won't let them in the tomatoes now, but my last garden is swiss chard and lettuces. Is there anything wrong with them getting that?


If you have a had a good frost do not let them eat the lettuce.It can be toxic.Not sure about the swiss chard but just to be safe I would clear that out as well.
 
TNMasterBeefProducer":16k1p49f said:
I had maters, peppers, melons, and cantelopes planted in my barn lot this year and the cows never paid them no mind. They would walk up to em and smell of the plants and then commence to eating grass again. I havent ever heard of anyone losing cattle to them eating maters or mater plants although that is not to say that it cannot happen.

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday in my barn lot and mowed down what was left of the garden. Won't have cattle in it for a little more than a week. Can't help but think that without a canopy for cover that anything that didn't get chopped up will dry out in the next few days.

It did smell like a good salsa when I mowed down the overgrown pepper plants. Gave me a craving for some tortilla chips. :D
 
MistyMorning":y83bjzyk said:
I spent and hour in manure, mud and sleet picking up tomatoes I had thrown out there :oops:

Shouldn't bother you none. Nobody will notice the diff. :lol:
 
Never feed your cow a tennis ball either... don't know if it's toxic or not lol. Me and my younger brother were playing around in the yard with one one time and it went over the fence and a cow that was standing there commenced to eat it .... I freaked out thinking we had just killed her if she swallowed it but she walked a little ways and then spit it back out talk about being relieved.
 
MistyMorning":1fdoxgh3 said:
flaboy":1fdoxgh3 said:
Shouldn't bother you none. Nobody will notice the diff. :lol:

Ah, another I missed. I see your painting yet one more attractive picture of me :roll:

Ah, well ya know, beauty is in the eye of the beer holder. The more ya hold the more beautiful they are. :lol:
 
flaboy":36qiuge7 said:
MistyMorning":36qiuge7 said:
flaboy":36qiuge7 said:
Shouldn't bother you none. Nobody will notice the diff. :lol:

Ah, another I missed. I see your painting yet one more attractive picture of me :roll:

Ah, well ya know, beauty is in the eye of the beer holder. The more ya hold the more beautiful they are. :lol:

Something we can finally agree on BEER ;-)
 

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