Garden fodder

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

What can you not feed cattle that is grown in the family garden? I have corn stalks,cucumbers,tomatos,onions,beans,melons etc.

 

[Chuck]

Hey MPR- My Mom used to throw all kinds of garden stuff into the feedlot. They love it. Steers would line up at the fence when they saw her bringing the stuff. Cows will about fight over sweet corn stalks. Apples, pears and such too. A lot of cattle in citrus country eat oranges and stuff all the time. They'll pick thru it. Just don't stand too close behind them after the onions. :lol: :lol: Oh wait- The onion thing- thats not the cattle.

 

[TheBullLady]

The cows will no doubt love you for sharing your garden surplus! When we lived in Illinois, we'd get all the left over pumpkins after Halloween and toss them out for the cows. The loved them!

 

[Stocker Steve]

I would not feed rubarb. We usually bag the first yard grass clipping of the year for a cattle treat. Some cattlemen in Minnesota feed scrap potatoes by the truck load. You do not want to stand behind a steer with a belly full of high moisture potatoes either!

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

They will love the corn stalks, especially if still plenty green. Mine won't touch cuke vines or green bean bushes. I don't ever give them tomato plants (or spud plants) as I think I remember reading long ago that they are poisonous to bovines. I guess the only caveat with corn stalks, in view of how dry it has been around here (and I assume near Corsicana ? ) is the remote possibility of nitrate poison if the corn has been severely drought stressed. But you are probably talking about small quantities of sweet corn that got "irrigated" like most of us do, so shouldn't be a problem. I fed a couple of truck loads of corn stalks to my cows last week and they really gobbled them up -- tastes a lot better than dirt I guess! Pears are dropping due to drought stress and the cows really go for them as well.

 

[flbullrider]

Cows LOVE citrus, the more rotten, the better :lol:

Some groves down here in FL will give ya all the reject fruit you can haul for free.

They also like melons of any kind.

Mike Bishop - http://www.flbullrider.com

 

[jerry27150]

tomato vines are related to the poisonous nightshade plant & also contain some poison

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Thanks for the info.

 

[icandoit]

So tell me, what garden fodder should you NOT feed the cows?

Dick