Just wanting variety in their diet?

[blackladies]

All the grass and clover they want and a couple cows hitting trees/leaves pretty hard. Maybe just want some variety, those tender new leaves.

 

[Hpacres440p]

Need to stretch their necks-I'm sure it gets boring eating head down all the time

 

[gman4691]

Had some hackberry trees go down in a storm recently...still working on getting them all cleaned up. However, my cows have all but stripped the leaves off of them...this while they have also been chomping on fresh spring grass growth and annual rye (which is about to start going dormant). I've seen them do this in the past when trees go down...I guess they just like the taste of the leaves - hasn't had any ill-effects. Incidentally, I think the "official" name of the tree is the American Sugarberry...we've always called them hackberry trees here. They will eat the leaves of other trees that fall during storms but there are some that they won't even look at. Haven't really given it much thought as long as the cows don't show signs of any ill effects. The trees in the pics look like hackberry.

 

[blackladies]

Had some hackberry trees go down in a storm recently...still working on getting them all cleaned up. However, my cows have all but stripped the leaves off of them...this while they have also been chomping on fresh spring grass growth and annual rye (which is about to start going dormant). I've seen them do this in the past when trees go down...I guess they just like the taste of the leaves - hasn't had any ill-effects. Incidentally, I think the "official" name of the tree is the American Sugarberry...we've always called them hackberry trees here. They will eat the leaves of other trees that fall during storms but there are some that they won't even look at. Haven't really given it much thought as long as the cows don't show signs of any ill effects. The trees in the pics look like hackberry.

Hackberry is what they were hitting at least I think, that real warty looking bark.

 

[MurraysMutts]

O yeah. My cows at the lease place love trees. I attribute that diet to them always being in such better shape than my home cows.

Or maybe it's the spring water. Idk

 

[wbvs58]

We have a legume tree Leucaena that people plant. Cattle will fatten on it but I think they need to be drenched with an innoculant to fully utilise it. Old Man Saltbush is another one.

Ken

 

[Lannie]

We have a lot of hackberry trees, and they are all neatly pruned right up to the height the tallest cow could reach. I don't know why, but those hackberry leaves must be tasty. They'd eat other tree leaves, too, and lilac leaves are also a favorite, but they always went for the hackberry first. I don't know if my current girls will have a taste for them, but the trees haven't leafed out yet, so we'll see, I guess.

 

[crossbreed]

Our cows use the hackberry as a dessert it seems. When we pull them off the wheat in the evening they usually head up the hill and spend a few minutes trimming up the trees. I read about Kathy at on pasture training cows to eat weeds. Have any of you actually seen or tried this? Sure would be nice if it worked

 

[blackladies]

Our cows use the hackberry as a dessert it seems. When we pull them off the wheat in the evening they usually head up the hill and spend a few minutes trimming up the trees. I read about Kathy at on pasture training cows to eat weeds. Have any of you actually seen or tried this? Sure would be nice if it worked

Mine will hit the giant ragweed hard if you consider that a weed, didn't have to train them though they just like it.