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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Cattle and water

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  • From: "Greg and April" <gregandapril@earthlink.net>
  • To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Cattle and water
  • Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:51:07 -0600

IIRC, bloat, comes from over eating of fresh greens when cattle are used to eating hay.

While I'm not a farmer, I have second cousins, that still work the family farm where my grandmother grew up,and other family in the same area, that run small dairy operations, and they say the time to watch for bloat, is in the spring, when the cattle have been used to eating cured hay all winter, and the new green growth ( of which alfalfa grows better than grass in cool temps ) is high in sugars and is like candy to cattle. The digestive systems of cattle are just not used to fresh greens, and legumes which are easier to digest. Being easier to digest, the fresh greens causes a rapid increase of gas bacteria, that causes gas faster than the animal can get rid of it.

They say that cattle kept on the range all winter, start feeding on a little greens as they start to grow, don't have the same problems with bloat, as cattle that have been fed hay all winter, then are turned loose on a pasture with allot of new green growth, because the cattle that stay on in winter are getting old coarse grasses as well as new fresh growth.


Greg H.



----- Original Message ----- From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 12:04
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Cattle and water



My statement was "alfalfa hay *normally* isn't fed directly to cattle".
Where'd I get that? From old ranchers of course. They'd bloat and die,
like eating too much clover.





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