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Hungry cattle turn to acorns, face poisoning
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<blockquote data-quote="Lucky_P" data-source="post: 875611" data-attributes="member: 12607"><p>Cattle can, will, and do eat far too many acorns some years - and often they'll do this even when there is ample forage and other foodstuffs available. Yes, there may be issues when pastures are 'short', but more often than not, that has not been the case in the numerous times I've dealt with it as a practicing veterinarian and as a diagnostic pathologist in the past 35 years.</p><p>It doesn't happen every year or even every other year, but some years, when there's a heavy crop of acorns everywhere or just one or a few particular trees cropping heavily, some animals seem to develop an unalterable craving for them - and often, we'd see multiple animals on a farm affected. </p><p></p><p>Gallotannins and other compounds in the acorns irritate intestinal mucosa and damage renal tubular epithelium - ultimately, these animals die of renal failure - initially, they may have diarrhea , but terminally they become constipated and dehydrated. If you examine the rumen contents, you may find excessive amounts of acorns in varying degrees of digestion, with some having barely been chewed.</p><p>Deer, goats, and other species have proline-rich proteins in their saliva which bind and inactivate the gallotannins, allowing them to eat acorns with impunity. Cattle do not possess these compounds, and cannot detoxify large quantities of acorns.</p><p></p><p>Native Americans - and aboriginal folks around the globe wherever oaks grow - use or used acorns as a dietary staple. Acorns are rich in carbohydrates and fat, with red/black oaks having higher fat content, and 'storing' better for longer periods of time(YEARS in specially-constructed granaries that the American Indians in the Southwestern US built), than members of the white oak group. Acorns were hulled, then pounded/ground to meal/flour and leached with water to remove the tannins. Some folks still regularly process and eat acorns today.</p><p> </p><p>There is a small group of folks in the Northern Nut Growers Assn, International Oak Society, and North American Fruit Explorers groups who are working to identify and propagate oak selections that produce low- tannin acorns(I'm one of that group). I've had the opportunity to eat acorns from some of those selections that are totally non-bitter. Not much flavor - kinda like a really bland chestnut - but not bitter. Have grafts and seedlings of several of those low-tannin selections growing here on the farm. Genetics is not the full story; rainfall and growing conditions from year to year do have some effect on bitterness - or lack thereof.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lucky_P, post: 875611, member: 12607"] Cattle can, will, and do eat far too many acorns some years - and often they'll do this even when there is ample forage and other foodstuffs available. Yes, there may be issues when pastures are 'short', but more often than not, that has not been the case in the numerous times I've dealt with it as a practicing veterinarian and as a diagnostic pathologist in the past 35 years. It doesn't happen every year or even every other year, but some years, when there's a heavy crop of acorns everywhere or just one or a few particular trees cropping heavily, some animals seem to develop an unalterable craving for them - and often, we'd see multiple animals on a farm affected. Gallotannins and other compounds in the acorns irritate intestinal mucosa and damage renal tubular epithelium - ultimately, these animals die of renal failure - initially, they may have diarrhea , but terminally they become constipated and dehydrated. If you examine the rumen contents, you may find excessive amounts of acorns in varying degrees of digestion, with some having barely been chewed. Deer, goats, and other species have proline-rich proteins in their saliva which bind and inactivate the gallotannins, allowing them to eat acorns with impunity. Cattle do not possess these compounds, and cannot detoxify large quantities of acorns. Native Americans - and aboriginal folks around the globe wherever oaks grow - use or used acorns as a dietary staple. Acorns are rich in carbohydrates and fat, with red/black oaks having higher fat content, and 'storing' better for longer periods of time(YEARS in specially-constructed granaries that the American Indians in the Southwestern US built), than members of the white oak group. Acorns were hulled, then pounded/ground to meal/flour and leached with water to remove the tannins. Some folks still regularly process and eat acorns today. There is a small group of folks in the Northern Nut Growers Assn, International Oak Society, and North American Fruit Explorers groups who are working to identify and propagate oak selections that produce low- tannin acorns(I'm one of that group). I've had the opportunity to eat acorns from some of those selections that are totally non-bitter. Not much flavor - kinda like a really bland chestnut - but not bitter. Have grafts and seedlings of several of those low-tannin selections growing here on the farm. Genetics is not the full story; rainfall and growing conditions from year to year do have some effect on bitterness - or lack thereof. [/QUOTE]
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