Chapter 9
Feeding Your Cow
The basic food of cattle is grass. Sometimes it’s that simple. The diet of dairy cows has been the object of at least as much research as has the human diet. Fortunately for cows, the result of all this research is a nutritional level significantly better than what is enjoyed by most humans. But if you are not familiar with bovine nutrition or digestion, a glimpse into any book or even pamphlet on the subject may produce mind-numbing mystery. This has been a factor in making families hesitant to try keeping a cow.
Although goat nutrition is very similar to bovine, myths about goats eating tin cans and Tim Hogan’s red shirt have left the impression that goat nutrition is nothing short of entertaining. Goats are altogether less of an economic engine and have inspired less research. Prospective goat keepers have been spared the daunting tables of nutrient analysis. They dive right in.
The cow is a ruminant, as are goats, sheep, deer, elk, buffalo, moose, giraffes, and a number of other grazers and foragers (but not horses). Before food enters your cow’s gut, it is fermented in the rumen by beneficial bacteria, which break down cellulose into forms available for digestion. The study of ruminant nutrition has greatly enlarged our understanding of all nutrition and has been of inestimable importance to the dairy industry and to all of agriculture in the United States and around the world. Breeding programs have kept pace, and in fact could be said to have outdistanced ruminant nutrition studies; careful breeding of dairy cows has given them the genetic potential to produce more milk than traditional feeding programs can support. The profit for the commercial dairyman lies in optimizing that extra margin of potential production. You need not worry very much about this.
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You Have Choices
Great-grandfather’s cow roamed the pasture and ate what was there. At milking time she might have been fed a coffee can or two of whatever grain was on hand along with the apple peelings, corn husks, or watermelon rinds from the kitchen. His cows lived happy, useful lives and produced a creditable amount of milk. They were economic for him, even though his sort of feeding is not of interest to the present-day dairy farmer. I will be discussing something more akin to our great-grandfather’s cow management than to commercial practice. The guiding principles are simple and practical and indeed are the same for all dairying.
The choices to make about the feeding of your cow depend on your own time, inclinations, and circumstances. Do you want to minimize your work? There are premixed balanced dairy rations as readily available as dog food from any feed store; just add hay and water. Is it perhaps important to you to know exactly what your cow is eating, so you prefer to work out her ration yourself? It is perfectly possible. You can buy the components of her diet and mix her rations yourself. If you have the land and are able to make the investment in time and at least some equipment, you can grow all of her feed with about the same amount of effort required to grow vegetables for a family; actually, it is easier.
A second conscious choice has to do with the money/milk balance. Depending upon your choice of the foregoing alternatives, this could mean a work/milk choice. The volume of milk your cow will give is greatly affected by what she is fed. You may or may not want to feed her for maximum production. You could feed her five times a day with the highest-quality feeds and get six or more gallons of milk a day. If you do not have any use for this volume, you can reduce the grain and have three or four gallons of milk. Appropriately managed, you can do this without sacrificing the cow’s health. You still have to provide enough good-quality hay or grazing so she doesn’t lose condition (weight). Dollar savings on grain reductions may be slight and must be weighed against loss of potential profit on her production. To better understand the role of grain in the cow’s diet, be sure to read “Practical Cow Feeding” and other sections on grain feeding later in this chapter. A cow is less stressed by high production on excellent feed than she is by low production on poor-quality feed. If you are interested in self-sufficiency or intend to make your cow turn a profit, you will be able to use all the milk you can get.
The constituents of the milk will reflect the nature of the cow’s diet.
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Pushing a Cow
What is meant by pushing a cow for maximum production? Critics often mention this in a roster of complaints against dairying. We need to take a hard look at the concept and find out what it is and what it is not. “Pushing” is not an expression found in dairy publications. Instead we find the concept of “feeding for highest production.” One might suppose this is a mere euphemism for “pushing,” which sounds like something nice people ought not to do to a cow. Here’s how it really works.
Dairy cows have been kept and bred since Neolithic times by people intent on having a docile animal that would produce worthwhile quantities of milk. For much of this history and especially during the last three centuries, high-producing cows have been bred to the sons of high-producing cows. Breeding has been progressively more carefully controlled for milk production, with entirely separate breeds developed to produce meat. With the advent of artificial insemination following World War II, selective breeding took a leap forward with truly impressive gains in productivity. With embryo transplants now commonplace, cow as well as bull genetics have entered the field of play. Today, with less than half the number of cows in the national herd than in 1940, the national herd is producing 28 percent more milk in total volume.
Other familiar animals have also had the benefit of selective breeding. Horses have been bred to create draft horses and race horses. Dogs have been bred to pull sleds, course deer, guard barges, and sit in ladies’ laps. It is easy to understand that making a courser like a saluki pull a sled would be inappropriate, as would making a fine thoroughbred pull logs out of the woods. At the same time, if you have ever owned a husky, you will know that preventing him from pulling is very stressful for him—for both of you, actually, because he desperately wants to pull. A thoroughbred spending his life in a small paddock with no chance to run is also unhappy. These and other purpose-bred animals are not stressed by the opportunity to do the thing for which they are bred; they want to do it and can hardly refrain from it. The analogy holds up with the dairy cow, because once she has her calf, she can’t be prevented from giving a lot of milk. If she is milked, either by her owner or by her calf, and if that milk production is not supported by an adequate, appropriate diet, she will be greatly stressed. For at least several months after calving she will continue to produce a lot of milk, and if not well fed, she will soon become emaciated and may even die.
Returning to the horse and dog analogy, a horse under a determined rider, say Paul Revere, can be made to keep running until it drops dead. Revere did not push his that far, but others have been known to do so. Husky dogs have sometimes met a similar fate in the traces. Most horse and dog racers want consistent top performance, and they achieve this by consideration for the animal combined with a well-designed feeding program. This is the only thing that makes any sense, assuming you are going to keep animals at all. You expect the animal to perform according to its breeding. To compete in the Kentucky Derby or the Iditarod, besides owning exceptionally gifted animals, requires extremely scientific feeding beyond what most people care to get involved in. This does not necessarily imply that either the racing or the feeding is harmful to the animal. However, a performance level satisfying to both animals and their owners can be supported by a good all-purpose diet, and this is all most people require.
Back to cows. To underfeed a dairy cow is extremely stressful to her and is never done in any commercial dairy (although I have seen shocking instances of abuse by individuals with three or four cows). While she may not stay in the commercial herd as long as we might expect to keep our family cow, a cow is not a throw-away animal; she is extremely valuable and is usually treated as such. To get the extra pounds of milk of which her breeding makes her capable requires a computer-designed feeding program. In many commercial dairies this has also come to mean augmenting the feed with components unappealing to human sensibilities and unnatural to ruminants. On top of this, as is not unknown in horse racing, it has also come to include injecting substances to compel performance beyond what diet alone can accomplish. In the case of dairy cows, growth hormones (rBGH/rBST) are used, and unlike horse racing, where this sort of thing is illegal, the practice is FDA approved. This constitutes pushing, in my opinion.
You can feed your cow a simple, well-planned diet that meets the needs of good production without pushing or stressing her.
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The Rumen
The rumen is an astonishing organ. Once you understand what it does, cow feeding makes sense forever.
The rumen is a fermentation vat, full of microorganisms: bacteria and protozoa. Everything a full-grown cow eats goes straight into the rumen. The rumen bacteria can do something no animals can do: they can digest cellulose, also known as fiber.
Plants grow by sequestering energy from the sun by the process known as photosynthesis. They add nitrogen, carbon, and water from the air and soil and store the energy as carbohydrates, oils, and cellulose. Cellulose is to plants what bones are to us. It holds the plants upright. The stiffer or more stringy the plants are, such as trees and grasses, the more cellulose they contain. Watery plants like lettuce contain only small amounts. But cellulose is present in all plants.
Cellulose is a major component of the cell walls in plants. Many mammals are able to digest a plant’s carbohydrates (starches and sugars) after first breaking the cell walls by chewing (or by cooking), but none can digest fiber. Fiber is not a significant nutrient in humans, although minor fermentation of fiber occurs in the colon, resulting in the breakdown of 5 to 7 percent. In humans and other species lacking a specific organ for the fermentation of cellulose, it serves to create indigestible bulk and attracts to itself digestive by-products, some of which might otherwise be toxic.
Fruits, seeds, and some roots have a lot of carbohydrates relative to the amount of fiber, so many mammals and birds consider them well worth eating and the fiber goes right on through. For instance, we eat apples and carrots and get quite a lot of good out of them. Grass and wood are just the opposite; there is a great deal of fiber relative to the amount of carbohydrates. From the human standpoint, the ratio is so bad that for us to obtain the carbohydrate in grass requires the expenditure of more energy in chewing and passing it through the gut than can be extracted from the grass, plus the mass of fiber causes actual abdominal distress. The result is a net loss of energy; humans starve on a grass diet, and so do all other animals unless they have a specialized organ containing a soup of cellulose-eating bacteria.
Nothing but these microorganisms can digest fiber, the building block of plants. If you see an animal that appears to be living entirely off grass or any coarse or woody vegetation, be it an insect or an elephant, you may be sure it is host to cellulose-splitting bacteria that live in its rumen or other specialized structure.
A major portion of the earth’s surface is covered with grass, and so it is not surprising that many animals have evolved to exploit this resource. Grass is a very special plant. Other plants have a central stem off which leaves grow; if their leafy heads are bitten off they have a limited ability to regenerate. But grass grows endlessly up from the bottom, so when its top is eaten off, more comes along. Cattle did not appear on earth until grass was well established.
The typical ruminant is an animal that survives by fleeing from danger. It is a prey species. It goes out in an open, grassy area to graze and eats as rapidly as possible, swallowing its food without chewing. Then it goes off to a safe place and brings up the undigested grass one mouthful, or cud, at a time and chews it thoroughly before swallowing it again. The cud is composed of fibrous stringy material that floats in the rumen like a mattress. Chewing adds saliva and breaks cell walls, releasing carbohydrates, which provide a quick meal for the microorganisms, which then attack the cellulose when the cud is swallowed.
The microorganisms are able to chemically break down the fiber and use its constituents as building blocks for amino acids. These bacteria within the rumen create “from scratch” all the essential amino acids; in other words, they create complete animal protein. They assemble their own cell walls and cell contents from these amino acids.
This complete protein, in the form of a soup of living and dead bacteria and protozoa, passes along into the ruminant’s additional stomach compartments for further processing and finally into the abomasum or true gut, where it receives digestion and absorption similar to our own. When food reaches the abomasum, the cow ceases to be a vegetarian; her rumen provides her with a high-protein diet. This is not incomplete soybean or peanut or wheat protein; it is complete protein obtainable to the rest of us only by eating eggs, meat, fish, or other living creatures or by drinking milk.
Every animal requires complete (animal) protein from some source in order to maintain a breeding population. It bears repeating: all animals except ruminants and others with a specialized organ full of cellulose- splitting bacteria must obtain their complete protein by eating other animals or drinking milk. Thus, the bacteria inside an insect digests the cellulose, perhaps a fish eats the insect, then a duck eats the fish, somebody eats the duck, and so on up to the ultimate consumer. But the complete protein was derived initially from synthesis by bacteria. The creatures higher up the food chain accumulate complete protein; they all have to eat other animals to get theirs. Then they pass it along when they in turn are eaten.
The cow proceeds efficiently from resident bacteria directly to her complete (animal) protein diet without the intermediaries necessary elsewhere in the food chain. Because of the extremely simple dietary requirements of rumen bacteria (any fibrous material), the extremely high nutritional value of milk, and the negligible net energy loss that the process requires (it can approach zero), the dairy cow is uniquely efficient among animals, and impressive by comparison with any system. She produces an easily obtainable food of the highest possible nutritional quality right on site from coarse plants of no use to anybody else. The only thing lower on the food chain than a cow is bacteria.
Note that rumen bacteria do not digest one type of fiber: lignin. The large amount of lignin in wood makes sawdust of little value in ruminant feeding. Lignin is also found in dead leaves and brown hay. Only soil bacteria are able to digest lignin.
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The Great Urban Myth
Misunderstandings about the natural diet of cattle have resulted from astonishing ignorance on the part of a great many writers and journalists who have not troubled to do their own research and lack the practical experience that might alert them to absurdities.. This has given rise to a collection of urban myths about food conversion (efficiency) rates in animals. One finds such statements as “Fifteen pounds of grain are wasted to produce one pound of meat.” Feeding grain is an economic choice. Steers will fatten on grass and cows will produce milk on grass. Wherever this grain mythology is extended to include the dairy cow it become especially egregious; the dairy cow always gives better than she gets.
Because all cattle have been under prolonged and almost entirely misguided attack for several decades, and because you as a cow owner will surely be expected to justify your decision, I have included a scientifically based discussion of all facets of dairy husbandry in the relevant sections of this book, addressing, I believe, every such concern.
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We now proceed to the practical application of basic rumen function. I am indebted to the publication Feeding Dairy Cows by the late Dr. Marshall E . McCullough (W. D. Hoard and Sons, 1986) for the following insight about balancing grass and grain feeding. I have paraphrased him here.
In nature’s design, the cow would calve in Spring and enter upon her period of maximum milk production. Then in the Fall she would enter a period of reduced milk production with an accompanying need to restore body weight and support another pregnancy.
Milk production is best supported with a diet high in crude (plant) proteins, digestible fiber, simple sugars, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Lush Spring and summer growth admirably supports this requirement.
Six months later in Autumn when plants are in their own reproductive phase, the cow has a heightened need for the extra calories provided by the starches found in grasses and the proteins (nitrogen) and oils of seeds and legumes. Thus the needs of her productive cycle are matched to the rhythm of nature. “You can take the cow out of Nature but you can’t take Nature out of the cow.”
When the rumen bacteria break down (ferment) fiber, they obtain an energy source for their own use and produce acetic acid, a short-chain fatty acid. Acetic acid is absorbed directly through the rumen wall and is the cow’s principal source of energy for all immediate needs, including milk and milk fat production. Milk and milk fat are in italics because for most of us, accustomed as we are to thinking of nutritious grains as the seemingly obvious precursors of milk protein and butterfat, it takes a while to adjust our thinking and accept rumen magic; it’s grass and hay that end up as milk and cream.
During the writing of the above paragraph I heard an in-depth report on National Public Radio in which it was solemnly explained that the price of ice cream was going up because manufacturers must now pay more for cream . . . cream being more expensive because grain prices have risen, so farmers are feeding less grain and the cows no longer give as much cream. Thus are myths perpetuated. But think about it: wild ruminants give creamy milk, much creamier than what is produced by big Holsteins. Yet wild ruminants get no grain at all.
The carbohydrates in grain are converted by rumen bacteria into other short-chain fatty acids: propionic acid and some butyric acid. All these short-chain fatty acids can be converted to glucose and are the “currency” for all metabolic work in the cow. Early lactation in your modern dairy cow (the only kind of dairy cow available!) requires more energy (as calories) than hay provides, even if she had time to eat enough of it. Without the extra energy in grain she may lose too much body weight.
The protein found in grain does not reach the cow’s gut. It is broken down for use as an energy source by rumen bacteria and as a source of nitrogen, which is converted to ammonia and ultimately used as a building block for amino acids.
In managing the feeding of your cow you will be balancing grass and hay (fiber, a.k.a. roughage) feeding for milk production and grain feeding to supply concentrated calories to provide energy needed to support that milk production and to meet the requirements for body maintenance and reproduction.
If you do not feed grain you will need to find some other high-calorie feed while your cow adjusts her production downward.
Two Tribes of Specialist Bacteria
The bacterial populations that specialize in digesting fiber are not the same ones that digest starches and plant proteins. The various populations explode and crash based on what, if any, food is in the rumen and on rumen acidity. The acidity of liquids is gauged according to the pH scale. It runs from 0 to 14, with 7 the neutral midpoint. Numbers lower than 7 are assigned to substances in the acid range, and numbers above 7 are alkaline. The optimal pH for those bacteria that specialize in digesting fiber is between 6 and 6.8 (close to neutral). The bacteria specializing in starch (grain being the most common source) are most active at a pH between 4 and 5, considerably more acid. The bacteria themselves are usually capable of adjusting the acidity of the liquid in the rumen to their preferred pH based on the type of food present. Saliva, for example, which is generated in great quantity during cudding, is alkaline and raises the pH to assist the fermentation of fiber. The bacteria that lack their preferred food and for which the pH is wrong then crash. If there is no food they all crash; it’s a big mistake to let a cow run out of food. It can take a couple of hours for bacterial numbers to recover, during which period the cow is totally wasting her time. If the weather is cold, it means her furnace has gone out and she is too bony and short-haired to keep warm. Results can be disastrous.
Besides the bacterial population in the rumen, there is also a significant population of protozoa (single-celled microorganisms) that depend primarily on starch. They operate best at a pH above 6. They perform an important service in the rumen by engulfing starch particles, thus making the starch temporarily unavailable for fermentation. Starch fermentation occurs at a lower pH and if proceeding freely would, by lowering pH, have the effect of discouraging the chief task of the rumen, which is fermenting fiber/cellulose. In this role the protozoa exert a valuable modulating effect.
The acid/alkaline balance in the rumen determines the precedence with which nutrients are digested by microorganisms. In dairy feeding charts you will see the term “neutral” used rather than “base” or “alkaline,” because the ideal range for fermentation of fiber (pH 6 to 6.8) approaches pH 7 (neutral); it is in this range that acetic acid is produced by the population of cellulose specialists. The presence of large amounts of starch in the rumen will lower rumen pH by encouraging those bacteria that produce propionic acid. Starch produces “acid stomach.”
For the commercial dairyman, this understanding is critical to the task of enabling the cow to produce to her genetic potential. Her feedstuffs must be chosen with care to balance the requirements of energy for milk production (acetic acid) with energy for maintenance (propionic acid). It could be compared with the importance to an athlete of balancing his or her levels of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and salts in order not to crash halfway through a decathlon. The dairyman has to get this right for the cows every day or, like the athlete, their performance shows it. You may not care if your cow gives milk up to her full genetic potential, and you may not care to bother with the requisite mixing and measuring. But some understanding of it will explain the roles of various feeds, and it will permit you to get the best response from the feeds available. You can’t help taking pride in the production of your cow.
Grain Cannot Replace Hay
Perhaps the most practical lesson in the foregoing discussion is that if you have poor hay, you cannot compensate for it by feeding extra grain. All you will do is make the cow fat, and the extra grain will actually depress milk production by fostering the growth of starch-loving bacteria, thus creating a habitat too acidic for the fiber-loving milk supporters (acetic acid producers). Better go find some good hay.
Also, do not feed a cow grain on an empty stomach. Make sure she has access to hay or grazing at all times. It is awfully easy to go out for morning milking, let in your hungry cow to eat her grain while you milk, and put out her hay later. If she hasn’t had hay beforehand, both types of bacteria will crash. Grain tends to leave the rumen rapidly, often before the grain specialists have had time to recover, so it will be largely wasted. The abomasum or “real” gut, which is pretty much like our own, can do very little with grain not thoroughly chewed and mixed with saliva. Remember, the cow gulps, and grain does not come back in the cud. Any whole, unground, unchewed grain ends up as food for the sparrows.
If it isn’t convenient to go out at least half an hour before milking to put out hay, make sure you give the cow plenty the night before so she can start breakfast before you milk. If mornings are very dark, if possible have a light on a timer to get her on her feet and eating, being sure she also has water.
Avoid Sudden Changes in Feed
At all times, avoid sudden changes in feed, both in type and amount. To those who have kept horses, this will not come as a surprise. Cows don’t colic, but they get bloat. Bloat can occur if a cow is allowed sudden access to a lush field, especially if the forage is cold and wet and especially if the forage is clover or alfalfa, which is a legume like beans, those notorious gas producers. Apart from bloat, which is actually not common except on a cold spring morning, the reason to avoid sudden changes in feed is to give the cow’s rumen microorganisms time to adjust. When changing grain mixtures, merge in the new feed by replacing half a scoop a day of the old with the new, building to complete replacement. Otherwise she will not obtain full value from the new feed.
Feeding Hay
The first step in feeding hay is to recognize good-quality hay. Good hay smells good and it looks good. It is leafy rather than stemmy. When you open the bale, the separate segments of the bale, often called flakes or leaves, can be readily loosened up into fluffy hay without raising a cloud of dust. When you offer it to your cow she begins right away to eat it. If the hay is alfalfa it will have stems (alfalfa is a legume, not a grass), but there should be plenty of leaves and they shouldn’t all fall off the moment you pick up a handful. If alfalfa totally shatters, then it was cut when too mature and its nutrient value has declined. This is not harmful, merely wasteful.
Commercial dairy farmers usually have hay tested before buying it so they know the relative amounts of fiber, starch, and protein. Some are experts akin to wine tasters; they are able to make an excellent judgment on the basis of appearance and smell and even enter competitions to do so at state fairs. It does take experience to know good hay, just as it takes experience as a shopper to select the best produce and to be able to make a safe guess on which are the tastiest apples or ripest watermelons. When buying hay, shop around for quality as well as price. Open up at least one bale and inspect it for the above traits. Also look for the presence of broad-leafed weeds (forbs). Mature weeds in hay can be a warning sign. The presence of goldenrod, milkweed, and thistle tell you the field has been neglected. Your cow won’t eat them if she can help it. She’ll try to pick them out but she won’t be able to avoid them all. Many are toxic, although typically less so in their dried state, but their presence leads to waste. And the seeds will be introduced to your own pasture in the dung.
On the other hand, many of the broad-leafed weeds are both nutritious and therapeutic. Lamb’s-quarter (chenopodium) and amaranth are examples of such useful plants.
If you are confident that you have located good hay, don’t hesitate; buy all you can. If it is good hay, local farmers will pounce on it and when you call again it will be gone. If you are uncertain, it may be feasible to buy just a few bales and try it on your cow. Even if she is on good grass, she will usually let you know if she likes the hay. She is an excellent judge of quality.
Unless you have the hay tested, mistakes can certainly happen. Unscrupulous dealers abound. If you get a bad batch, try to locate some better hay and find a buyer for the disappointing purchase. Somebody feeding steers will be a lot less fussy, so cut your losses, and you need not feel you have passed along trouble. A dairy cow deserves the best.
How Much to Buy
I plan to have a forty-pound bale a day for each of the days when there is no grazing. Here in Maine that’s six months of the year, or 180 bales. I begin feeding hay in November, even though some grazing is still available, because it is hunting season and Monday through Saturday I keep my cow close to the barn. In late April the fields turn green but I keep feeding hay, because the grass remains too short for efficient grazing and the sod is wet and will be damaged by very much treading.
Timothy, orchard grass hay, or a mix of alfalfa and hay are excellent choices. But fescues and brome are favored in many parts of the country. Each part of the world has its own native grasses and these tend to thrive best.
If hay is the only source of roughage for your cow, expect to feed thirty to forty pounds a day to a Jersey and twice that much to a Holstein. If the hay is of top quality a cow will finish it all, wasting virtually none. If the quality is questionable, as mine often is, I avoid being stingy with it. I let my cow pick it over and use rejected hay as bedding.
If Hay Is of Poor Quality, Cows Eat Less, Not More
Why do cattle eat less of low-digestibility feeds? The reason is that the amount of feed ruminants can eat is determined mainly by the capacity of the digestive tract, particularly the first stomach, or rumen. The cow will eat until the rumen is full. Then hunger signals stop. With highly digestible feeds, the volume in the rumen is rapidly reduced, because these feeds are rapidly broken down. As a result, the rumen empties quickly and the cow eats more to fill it up again. In contrast, a rumen filled with feed of low digestibility empties very slowly, because the feed is slowly digested and leaves large residues (which go ultimately to the dung). Low-digestibility feeds occupy the rumen for a long time, and this limits the amount of feed the cow is able to eat. She may appear satisfied, but milk production and the cow’s condition will decline if she is kept full of poor-quality feed.
Knowledge of how this process works will be very useful to you in everything you do in acquiring feed and giving it to your cow. If you make your own hay, you will see the importance of making the best hay you can, given the circumstances of weather, machines, and time. You will need to make your hay early, and quickly, and, if at all possible, in the full sun (see chapter 12 for more on making hay). If you buy your hay, try to find out how it was made. The owner of the hay always knows and may tell you if you ask.
Obviously you do not want just the biggest or heaviest bales of hay; you want the most digestible hay. This is not widely understood. In each of the several places I have lived and kept cows, my family made hay earlier than everyone else. Inevitably a neighbor would drop by, dispensing wisdom by pointing out that if we only had let the grass mature for another week or two, there would have been many more bales of hay from the same land. Certainly true, but we were aiming for quality, not quantity. Once grasses develop seed heads, they send all their energy to the development of the seeds, and the leaves lose nutritive value. We wanted our hay cut before that happened, so that our animals could have the highest-quality nutrition in its most digestible form.
When you buy hay, look for a bright blue-green color (not gray or brown) inside the bale, an aroma of a summer meadow, and the leaves hanging on the stems. If you must feed faded, stemmy hay that lay in the field and got rained on, feed it free choice so that your cow can pick it over, and remove what is uneaten for use as bedding. Avoid feeding moldy hay. If you are forced to deal with moldy hay, feed it outdoors so that the dust drifts away. Moldy hay is less sickening to cows than it is to horses, but it isn’t good for them.
I sometimes resort to alfalfa cubes sold by the bag for rabbits. Dried beet pulp is another option, although it is not a substitute for the long fiber of hay. You could also consider making fodder from sprouted grains (see “Fodder Feed”).
Another factor affecting hay quality is whether it is first or second cut. The first early-summer cutting of hay will be stemmier and somewhat less palatable than that from subsequent cuttings.
How to Feed Hay
You will of course want to feed hay in such a way as to control waste. This is especially important with alfalfa, as even the best of it shatters easily. Remove uneaten hay frequently from the feeder. It can mount up and give the impression she has plenty in front of her when in fact she has already rejected much of it. Leftover hay can be offered to steers or can be used as bedding. If there are a lot of leftovers, try to determine whether you simply overfed your cow or whether she has turned down her hay for some other reason. Never try to impose a “clean your plate” policy on a dairy cow. Try to discern the message behind the uneaten hay. If it is of high quality, she will surely finish it up soon unless she is ill or there is something else wrong; for example, she is out of water. If your hay is from more than one source, stack and feed it separately, noting her response.
As a guiding principle, assume that if your cow eats every bit, you are not feeding enough.
Hay and Grass: The Gold Standard
Hay and grass are a cow’s most important feed. No matter what other feeds you use, she must always have either some grazing or a few pounds of hay each day, divided into more than one feed. Because the cow’s stomachs are specially adapted for grass/hay, her health will eventually suffer on a diet composed entirely of sugarbeet, pumpkins, or other substitutes, no matter how nutritious. Corn silage, which is composed of the entire stalk including full ears, comes closest to being a substitute for hay, but only if it has fiber length of at least three-eighths inch. Less than that, and cud chewing will not reliably occur and consequently full digestion will not take place. Even if you live in Alaska, where hay is almost prohibitively expensive, you will need at least to give your cow a few handfuls with her other feed. (But if you live in the north, note that alder and willow may adequately induce cud chewing. You will need to observe your cow’s response. Asked about the value of alder and willow in cattle feeding, one old-timer in British Columbia said, “Ja, but many die first.”)
Grass and hay, with their long fiber, are always the best source of acetic acid, the precursor of milk and the best forage to prompt cudding.
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Grain Mixtures
Feed stores sell or can order a premixed dairy ration, which saves much of the guesswork. These feeds are designed to be used as adjuncts to hay feeding. Mixes are available with protein percentages ranging from 12 to 20 percent. Sixteen percent is appropriate for most feeding programs. (This is crude plant-derived protein.) The feed will be available pelleted or in a coarse mix including molasses. It is not easy to be sure what is in these premixed feeds, as the labels refer to the ingredients in generic terms. All the components will have been approved by the FDA for inclusion in dairy feed. The feed mill will be balancing fiber, starch, and protein according to a complex formula. Soy, corn, cottonseed, brewer’s grains, beet pulp, and a great deal else can go into the mix according to what is both available and economic for the mill. If any ingredients are from animal sources, this fact may or may not appear on the label, and of course labeling requirements change over time. Dried milk products may be included. Blood meal is permitted in all animal feeds including dairy feed. Bovine bonemeal is disallowed in dairy feed, but bonemeal from swine and horses is permitted. Most premixed feeds include “anti-caking agent,” which refers to a type of clay that is added in the hope that it will inactivate mycotoxins such as aflatoxin.
You almost certainly will not be able to beat the price on premixed feeds by buying the components separately, even were you to buy grain directly from a local farmer. Feed prices are clearly subject to the same forces that govern the pricing of a Honduran banana sold in Maine so that it costs less than a local Maine apple. The only advantage to mixing your own feed will be in knowing exactly what is in it. However, mold is arguably the most hazardous feed contaminant, and feed mills are usually scrupulous in avoiding it. Their storage facilities will be superior to any but very carefully designed home storage setups. On the other hand, commercial mixes often include cottonseed meal, a notorious bearer of pesticides.
Virtually all popular brands of premixed feed now include GM (genetically modified) grain. I make an effort to find non-GM feed. Consequently I end up paying more for feed, or else I buy local grains with a lower protein profile.
Premixed feeds are supplemented with vitamins and minerals at levels adequate to forestall most deficiencies. But it is perfectly possible to buy supplements and add them yourself. I always top-dress feed with extra vitamin E in winter and with ground kelp year-round.
Nota bene: I’ll say it again—dairy feeds do not and never have contained antibiotics. Antibiotics would suppress those crucial rumen bacteria. Feedlot beef cattle may and do receive antibiotics, hormones, and drugs (such as ractopamine or zilpaterol to suppress fat deposition and compel muscle growth) in their feed or by injection. This is but one of the many ways in which their lives differ from those of dairy cows. In point of fact, dairy cows are often fed probiotics. These are friendly bacteria such as those you find listed on your yogurt label.
Hard and fast rules do not (and cannot) exist for the amounts and types of feed a cow must have. Nonetheless, decisions must be made, and the computer has been a vast aid in making these calculations: as soon as fiber goes up, starch may be forced down; there is more than one kind of fiber, and each behaves differently; starches and sugars (carbohydrates), with their potential for causing acid stomach, must be controlled; protein requirements may surpass the amount generated by microorganisms. Fats and oils are a wild card; they are superior calorie sources, yet too much fat depresses bacterial activity in the rumen. Age of the cow, the stage of her lactation, how much she produces, and her stage of pregnancy are all factors that need to be entered into this matrix of calculations. All this nearly defies tabulation. Yet many if not most commercial dairymen do mix their own feed. Computer programs are available to take the mental gymnastics out of it, assisting greatly with these decisions. This could even be fun at home for the dedicated tech user.
I use a simplified feeding program that sacrifices some production: hay and a quality commercial grain mixture in the winter, and grass and less of the same grain in the summer, with vitamin and mineral supplements. I have not found it practical to eliminate grain in the Maine climate. Especially in winter, I feed two to four pounds a day; otherwise milk production falls to disappointing levels. However, there are wide variations among the responses of individual cows.
With some types of management, grain can be dispensed with entirely. If your goal is organic feeding and/or home feed production, your cow’s diet will be determined by what you can grow or obtain in your area. If you wish to compound your own feed, you will want to work closely with organic farming organizations in your area to profit by the experience of others. And of course, everybody did it for more than ten thousand years and until quite recently. Quite apart from its other benefits, organically produced milk commands a premium price now even in depressed rural areas, where until recently a dairy operator could find customers only by underselling supermarkets. See also chapter 10, “Your Organic Cow,” and the grazing information later in this chapter.
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Other Feeds
In additional to the hay and grain that we customarily associate with cattle feeding, an enormous variety of other plant-derived feeds can and are used. If they are ground up and sufficiently palatable, a cow will eat and can digest peanut hulls, orange rinds, pineapple tops and pulp, sugarcane bagasse, tomato and apple pomace, and even, thanks to its cellulose, cardboard and newsprint. Distillers’ dried grain (spent mash) is widely fed. All of these and many other items could be included in this nearly endless list and are being fed to dairy cows somewhere. The limiting factors are only that the feed can be broken down in the rumen by bacteria, and that a worthwhile number of nutrients are thereby made available to the cow’s gut. Apart from total grazing regimens, it is by using these nontraditional feedstuffs that some dairymen avoid grain feeding. Grain is always the most expensive part of the diet.
No matter what else a cow gets, she must always have long fiber. Twenty pounds of hay or a few hours of good grazing every day are indispensable.
Total Mixed Ration (TMR)
Total mixed ration is a term for an optimal mix of feed, ground finely enough to prevent “sorting”—the cow’s just eating what she wants. And as we have seen, a big meal followed by a hungry gap causes great peaks and dips in the bacterial population in the cow’s rumen, resulting in inefficient utilization of feed. It won’t then come as a surprise that research has shown that a cow will produce significantly better when the exact same ration is fed in six small feeds rather than two big ones. This is an area of management where one-cow production stands to lose or gain a lot.
You will appreciate the importance of the TMR. If everything weren’t premixed, it is unlikely that any cow offered free choice would balance it out ideally for herself. Palatability is as great a factor in feeding a cow as it is with feeding a two-year-old child. The persistent myth that, given a smorgasbord, a two-year-old will through the workings of some innate force balance her diet without adult intervention has been long abandoned by most parents. It has also been tried and found wanting in dairy cows. They will eat what has the most molasses in it or tasty sweet corn. And not unlike children I have known, the more assertive cow will get all she wants and may then position herself so that the meek herd member gets hardly anything. (If you put a horse in with a cow he will usually eat what he wants and then spend the rest of the day positioned so as to discourage your cow from eating or drinking.)
The TMR is also the most effective way of preventing the population peaks and crashes of rumen microorganisms. These peaks and crashes waste time and production if, every time separate rations of hay, grain, or other feed are offered, the cow eats on either an empty rumen or one in which the population necessary to that particular feed has declined drastically. Yes, the feed will be eaten. In the case of hay, there will be a lag time for the bacteria to recover because hay will not leave the rumen until it is digested. In the case of grain, much of it may have left the rumen before the necessary bacteria recover, and much of its value will be forfeited. As noted earlier, developing a TMR for a family cow is not out of the question. But most people are satisfied to muddle along much as I do, minimizing the peaks and valleys of rumen activity.
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is not a grass but a legume, and it is higher in protein than all but the best grass. With alfalfa hay it may not be necessary to feed any grain at all. Its long stems also provide fiber. It is high in calcium, and so it is not suitable in the low-calcium milk fever prevention diet, but it is good for a cow freshly calved. It is gas-forming and can cause bloat if it is a cow’s only ration, particularly if the cow is grazing it in the field. Give your cow a little grass hay before sending her out on alfalfa so she can’t overeat on it.
Alfalfa is high yielding and improves soil by fixing nitrogen, and cows love it. The hay shatters wastefully, so when you’re handling it or feeding it, make provision for catching the leafy sweepings. When feeding silage (see here) during lactation, a high-calcium feed such as alfalfa should make up part of the ration.
Kelp
During the winter I feed kelp (seaweed). It is available dried and ground. My reasoning is that kelp contains traces of all minerals, so it can make up for any deficiencies in the local feed. Also, iodine is especially important to high-producing cows, and kelp is a good source of it. Kelp can be offered free choice from a permanent feeding station or mixed with grain.
Fodder, or sprouted grain, is a relatively new feeding option. Grain is sprouted in trays for about a week, until a dense mat of grass appears, referred to as a “biscuit.” The biscuit can be fed to cows as part or even most of their ration. Family cow owners have devised many creative arrangements for producing multiple trays of fodder sufficient to compose much of a cow’s diet. Production of fodder requires greenhouse conditions with light, warmth, and regular watering. Growers sprout a variety of seed grains, but barley is a favorite. It is possible to purchase automated sprouting systems capable of supplying a couple of cows or a commercial dairy herd. Cows appear to do very well on fodder, although some hay must still be fed to provide long fiber.
Reasons for choosing fodder feeding include limited access to grazing land, as a response to adverse weather conditions, difficulty in finding or affording organic or non-GM feed, and the desire to provide quality feed at less cost.
Fodder systems are adaptable to confinement feeding. Those who avoid feeding grain are assured that after six days of sprouting, the seed no longer need be considered grain. But it is still not tough enough to qualify as long fiber.
Problems reported with fodder feeding include hesitation on the part of some cows to accept fodder and difficulty in obtaining a consistent product.
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Allergens Can Pass through in Milk
Milk from your own family cow seldom induces allergic responses even in people otherwise sensitive to dairy products. But other allergens may come through in milk, as many a nursing mother has learned. Supermarket milk is the blended product of thousands of cows eating an untraceable variety of feeds. Recent studies have shown that peanuts are a significant allergen, for example; and many people already know they are allergic to wheat, soy, or corn. If you arrange your cow’s diet to avoid these known allergens, a family member troubled with allergies may have the inestimable benefits of milk and your entire array of home-produced dairy foods.
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Common Nutrient Sources in Dairy Feed
It is important to understand the components of the grain you’re feeding and the effects they may have on your cow and be able to make informed choices about their sourcing.
Protein Sources
A frustrating thing about feed labels is that they usually identify the grains and proteins generically, without listing their source. The label of any premixed feed should make clear whether any of its protein comes from animal sources, but blood meal may escape mention. Common protein sources include the following:
Plants (20 to 30 percent protein): corn distillers’ grains, gluten feed, brewers’ grains
Plants (35 to 45 percent protein): soybeans, peanut meal, gluten meal, linseed meal, cottonseed meal
Animals (40 to 50 percent protein): fish meal, meat meal, blood meal, skim milk powder
Mineral Sources
It may also be of use to know the principal mineral supplement sources. For one thing, it makes the reading of labels on feed bags less puzzling. The lists read like a chemist’s shelf until you become aware that most of the substances listed are minerals and vitamins.
Calcium: tricalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, ground limestone, calcium carbonate, oyster and other marine shells
Phosphorus: the calcium phosphates, rock phosphate, defluorinated rock phosphate
Iodine: potassium iodide, sodium iodide, potassium iodate, iodized salt (I include kelp)
Iron: ferric oxide, ferrous sulphate, reduced iron
Cobalt: cobalt sulphate, carbonate
Manganese: manganese oxide
Selenium: sodium selenate
Note: Selenium is usually included in proprietary mixes and with vitamin E supplements, to which it is an essential accessory. It is also present in ground seaweed. Selenium is essential, but it is toxic at high levels.
Vitamins
The vitamins usually included in mixed feeds are A, D3, riboflavin, B2, and B12 (cobalamin), along with vitamin E and its cofactor, selenium.
Vitamins and minerals are contained in varying amounts in everything your cow eats. In their bulletins, feed companies foster the notion that a cow fed homegrown feed will lack minerals and vitamins. This is not necessarily so. For example, all fresh leafy forage contains vitamin A and vitamin D. Sunlight also directly provides vitamin D. Your cow could be deficient in both these vitamins in winter if she is not exposed to sunlight and if the hay was not properly dried and stored (stored hay progressively loses vitamin A). In northern climates, adding A and D to a cow’s diet is a good idea. Most commercial mixed feeds will supplement these vitamins, and you can add them to your own feed by using cod liver oil, which can be purchased in feeding quantities.
Supplementing vitamin E is not necessary when a cow is on grass but is important in winter or whenever she gets only dry feed. Along with its other outcomes, lack of vitamin E leads to off flavor in milk. Wheat and corn germ oils are excellent although expensive sources for vitamin E, but they are not available in feed stores. Read the labels of any feed-store vitamin E supplements and you’ll see that they are soy or corn oil with little or no germ included; their vitamin E content usually comes from added dl-alpha-tocopherol, a synthetic form of vitamin E.
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Why We Feed Grain
We feed grain for its calories and for the nitrogen in its protein. The calories are in the form of starch and a small amount of sugars. Calories are the single most critical dietary component for every living thing. In the cow the caloric allowance is divided up between her own needs and the requirements of the microorganisms in her rumen. These organisms work hard to produce acetic and propionic acids and the high-grade protein from which they themselves are formed. This work requires energy in the form of calories. The microorganisms take their share first. Therefore we want these acetic acid producers to have enough of an energy (calorie) source so that they do not need to convert plant proteins to energy; we want plant proteins spared for their role as a nitrogen source with which to compound amino acids to meet their own and the cow’s true protein requirement (see below). Good hay will contain enough easily digestible fiber and carbohydrates to support microbial activity, with no need for them to bother breaking down plant proteins, which are always a less efficient energy source. When commercial dairymen test their hay and find it lacking easily digestible fiber and carbohydrates, they add a high-calorie food such as beet pulp to the feed so that the plant protein will be spared. A great many dairymen feed a total mixed ration (TMR), which helps sustain the correct population balance of rumen microorganisms and pH. A TMR also prevents “sorting,” whereby the cow avoids the dietary components she does not prefer: “No dessert ’til you eat your vegetables.”
Because hay is a limited source of free carbohydrates (that’s why we can’t live on grass), we must also provide enough carbohydrate calories so that the microorganisms that depend on carbohydrates can thrive and produce propionic acid. The cow uses propionic acid as a precursor for glucose. Glucose is the all-purpose energy source for everything. Muscle maintenance, keeping warm in cold weather or dispelling heat in hot weather, switching away flies, chewing, gut digestion, producing dung—all require energy. About two-thirds of all the energy a cow receives is used for this metabolic work. And she still has to make milk, and that too is work. Immediate caloric imperatives will be made up at the expense of other demands. She will lose muscle mass and be otherwise stressed. A cow in peak production has a hard time eating enough to support her caloric requirement and still get enough of that indispensable roughage. Furthermore, the carbohydrates she eats to support all her propionic acid production for metabolic work serve to lower rumen pH below the ideal climate for breaking down the roughage (fiber) for optimal acetic acid production. Dairymen often deal with this dilemma by feeding sodium bicarbonate to raise the pH and overcome acid stomach. You may offer sodium bicarbonate free choice alongside minerals, and a cow will often seem to want it. But recall that the saliva she produces by the gallon during cud chewing is her natural buffering agent.
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Meeting Protein Requirements
Grain also provides protein. The assumption used to be that protein was the most important contribution of grain, whereas we now know it is the calories that are crucial (see above). But rumen microorganisms must have nitrogen, and grain is a more concentrated source than grass or hay. Rumen microorganisms must have nitrogen in order to complete their singular task of constructing amino acids. (It is possible to provide free nitrogen from other sources such as urea or ammonium, and this is often done, either to replace grain or to augment nitrogen in other feeds.)
A lactating cow can use about as much protein as she can get. As is true of all nutrients, to speak of “requirements” gives a false view of reality and a false impression that if we just do our mathematics right, natural systems will stand up and say “Yes, sir!” What is clear about protein, however, is that in order for a dairy cow of any improved breed to produce milk up to her genetic potential, more protein must enter digestion in the true gut than any population of microorganisms can generate. This will be true whichever of the popular breeds you choose, because all have had the benefit of selective breeding. With the disappearance of the backyard dairy cow following World War II, you may depend on it: any cow you buy will be the daughter of a good cow, if not a great one, from a commercial dairy that took breeding very seriously.
Note: The “backyard cow” or “scrub cow” advocated by some as possessing unimproved and therefore more desirable genetics is a fiction. If you see a skinny, scrubby cow, she got that way by poor feeding from infancy.
Protein in the True Gut
For her own protein needs, as distinct from those of her rumen bacteria, a cow does not rely on patching together so-called complementary protein from disparate plant sources, each with its own amino acid weakness. Once we move past her specialized stomach compartments and into her true gut, her dietary requirements are essentially identical to those of any mammal including ourselves. To perform her task of producing milk, maintaining herself, and making a calf, only a full array of amino acids as found in animal protein will do. Otherwise the cow will call on muscle as a protein source, like any deprived dieter. If deficits are severe she may also be slow to breed back or may abort her calf, or she may produce a lot less milk than she could, just like any other female. Short of outright metabolic emergencies such as milk fever or ketosis, while other deficits are occurring unseen, what you are most likely to notice first in the case of insufficient protein is that the cow is producing less milk. After the first ten or twelve weeks of lactation, during which she is expressing her non-negotiable hormone-induced impulse to produce, if she is not getting optimal feed including protein, milk production will be forfeited to maintenance.
That is acceptable for most of us one-cow owners. This is what my cow does. I feed her the best diet I can within my limits of cost and availability, and she freshens with five gallons a day, peaks at six gallons, then drops off to three and a half gallons five months into her lactation and looks in fairly good condition. But even with the most scientific feeding it is virtually impossible to prevent a good cow from “milking off her back” in early lactation. She is making up energy deficits using stored fat, and she is supplying protein deficits with her own muscle.
The Cow’s Two Protein Requirements
Thus, the cow has two protein requirements to be met. There is the plant protein needed by the microorganisms as their source of nitrogen. And there is the “complete” or animal protein needed by the cow herself. Dairy nutritionists refer to these as rumen degradable crude protein (RDCP) and rumen undegradable crude protein (RUCP). RDCP includes whatever the rumen microorganisms get around to degrading; they are limited in this by the energy available in the feed—energy always is key. RUCP includes whatever the microorganisms didn’t get around to degrading along with the contribution made up of microorganisms themselves; they are composed of newly manufactured high-quality protein they have created from the raw material of cellulose and nitrogen. RUCP may also include protein added to the ration with the expectation that it will bypass bacterial fermentation and serve protein needs directly via gut digestion. It is therefore often referred to as “bypass protein.” This extra RUCP in high-protein feed amendments has increasingly come to mean meat protein. Meat protein admirably serves this purpose since it is what the true gut makes best use of, but rumen bacteria consider it second best. There are billions of tons of otherwise wasted animal protein available from slaughterhouses and other sources, more even than can be gotten rid of in the multibillions of tons of dog and cat food purchased every year by Americans. It makes economic sense not to waste it. The practice of feeding meat and poultry by-products to dairy cattle has come under intense fire due to fears about the transmission of disease. The validity of these fears is not fully resolved as of this writing. What is clear is that:
• The American dairy industry as now constituted cannot get along without feeding animals meat protein, because our national cheap food policy dictates that dairy farmers must live by relentless economies of scale. Fewer cows must forever give more milk. As of this writing the only meat product allowed in dairy feed is blood.
• Milk, cheese, and dairy beef (culls, steers, and heifers not needed as herd replacements) compose the greatest source of protein in the American diet and are indispensable. This food source must somehow be maintained.
• Americans do not at present wish to produce milk at home or even encourage it locally, which, were it to occur, would make possible the niche marketing of superior milk at a price spread capable of sustaining dairy farmers while keeping cows at a lower production level . . . slightly more old-fashioned cows.
• When consumers are willing to pay for milk produced without the inclusion of meat or poultry waste as bypass protein, they can have it. My cow doesn’t get it and never will.
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Fiber
Ongoing research on the nature and importance of fiber in ruminant nutrition has been accompanied by changing terms. The term crude fiber, seen in older feeding publications, has ceased to be very meaningful because it fails to distinguish between categories of fiber and embodies an assumption that fiber is to some degree a filler displacing better feeds. The term roughage is also used, and the terms are pretty much interchangeable. Studies on the significance of fiber in the ruminant diet have become more coherent and the message is this: fiber is indispensable. The question has become, “What kind?” Ideally, it needs to be the long stringy kind (like grass) and in pieces that aren’t too short (those about the size a cow would bite off). Surprising how long it took to work this out.
But wait—that stringy fiber is not all the same. It is composed of varying proportions of pectins, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. These are all cell-wall fibers that enable the plant to hold itself up. Pectins are the most digestible in the cow’s rumen, whereas lignin is not digested at all. The proportion of lignin rises as grass matures and becomes drier. So early, lush grass is more digestible than older, stiffer, stemmier grass.
If grass becomes hay and that hay has the misfortune to be made from grass already overmature, and if it then dries too long in the field or even gets rained on, what comes into the barn will have a very high lignin content. Lignin is dark brown, as seen in November leaves. Rumen bacteria cannot digest lignin, so it sits in the rumen for a long time. It depresses the cow’s appetite by making her feel full and ends up in the dung. It really is junk food. This is why you can’t overcome the problem of bad hay by feeding out more. A cow won’t eat while her rumen is full. She may eat more later when her rumen empties, but if no better hay is forthcoming, a cow will lose condition as well as production. If brown, stemmy hay is the only hay available, so long as it is not moldy it is probably better than nothing, but very little should be fed. You may have to buy some high-fiber bagged feed such as dried alfalfa cubes to be sure she gets enough useful fiber. Alfalfa cubes are best presoaked.
What Happened When They Omitted Fiber
As already described, modern breeding for high production has given us a cow whose production potential often exceeds her capacity for food. This has led dairy nutritionists to devise diets unimagined by earlier generations. Also, the logistics of managing several thousand cows make going out to pasture in the old-fashioned way a practical impossibility for huge commercial dairies. Storing, lifting, and serving up enough hay became a nightmare for them. Industrial wastes from the citrus, sugar, and alcoholic beverage industries offer vast savings in money, while huge silos able to serve up silage via a moving belt offer great savings in man-hours. Fiber came to be seen as competing for space in the rumen with more valuable nutrients . . . until research showed a constellation of ill effects from the lack of long fiber. Notable among the ill effects are displaced abomasum, or torsion of this section of the stomach. Usually this problem must be corrected by a veterinarian. Laminitis, a softening of the inner layer of the hoof, may also develop. The rumen wall will lose some of its integrity and become less efficient at absorption. Ulceration eventually occurs due to lowered pH.
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Silage is anaerobically fermented plant material—a process that preserves and enhances nutrient levels—commonly made from cornstalks and other leftovers. Well-preserved silage will have a low pH due to its content of lactic acid. Moist, finely chopped good silage goes down fast and does not prompt the cow to produce enough saliva to buffer the acid. If too finely chopped, silage does not prompt cudding. Cows are often fed bicarbonate of soda with silage to counteract the low pH.
Good silage will have a somewhat pleasing, fermented smell. By contrast, wet, poorly made silage will have a high ammonia content with an odor, and this is as off-putting to the cow as it is to us.
To make good silage you have to make a lot, because there must be tremendous weight to exclude air. The fermentation of silage is an anaerobic process. Traditional silos are tall cylindrical structures within which a great vertical force of material pushes down and evacuates air. Vegetation is finely chopped to reduce the possibility that air pockets will be retained, which would permit mold to grow. The top few feet of silage usually must be discarded due to the formation of mold rather than lactic fermentation. In a trench silo there is even more waste.
Good silage has the advantage that nutrients in the vegetation are well preserved, and actually enhanced by fermentation. And it gets around the age-old problem of trying to make good hay in bad weather. Most silage is made by chopping entire cornstalks, including the ears. Thus it includes both grain and fiber and comes close to being a complete feed.
Hay also may be ensiled and is referred to as haylage; many farmers make it. It permits storage of grass soon after it is cut without going through the haymaking process. It isn’t easy to get it right without experience and a silo. A great deal of haylage is now made in plastic bags. The big white bags seal out air and are sometimes referred to as “meadow marshmallows” by farmers. They are wonderful feed and can be delivered in a heavy pickup truck, but the bag must not be damaged. Once opened, the contents must be eaten promptly or will spoil. I don’t find them practical for a single cow.
Gene Logsdon, in his book The Contrary Farmer, describes a method of making silage in a dustbin with a tight-fitting lid. You pack in grass clippings and add a gallon of molasses. It sounded a lot like making kimchi. It might be fun to try.
Despite the difficulties of making silage, where rain is a constant threat, you should explore the possibility of making or buying silage, especially if you have several animals. Nutrients in good silage are much superior to those in hay that had to dry twice before being baled.
Your extension agent may be able to direct you to a farmer who makes quality silage or haylage. If the farmer doesn’t want to sell any, get him or her to teach you the principles. It is one of those skills learned best by participation rather than by reading. Later, after you’ve seen it done, the pamphlets given you by your extension agent will make more sense.
Good-quality silage smells very slightly sour but not nasty. It should be just moist enough so that a tightly pressed handful holds together for just a moment before collapsing, like bread flour or like snow that’s right for skiing. A frequent complaint about silage is that it affects the taste of the milk because of its smell. However, good silage will not have this effect.
Continue to feed some hay along with silage or haylage to ensure sufficient cudding. Feed grain according to your own best judgment as you monitor your cow’s condition.
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Grazing
What about keeping a cow on pasture alone? After all, aren’t cows evolved to eat grass, not hay and grain? The answer is a rather qualified “yes.” This is the way most herds are managed in New Zealand, one of the world’s foremost dairying countries. A growing number of herds in the United States have changed from confined feeding to mostly grass, based on the New Zealand experience. Here are some of the factors to take into account.
At the beginning of the growing season when grass is very thick, if a cow has all of it she can eat, milk production may be as good as with supplemental feed. Measured over an entire growing season, cows on pasture will not produce as well as those with supplemental feed. The reason is partly due to the fact that grass changes in composition as the season advances, going from high protein/low energy to low protein/high energy and ultimately to stemmy and unpalatable, topped with seed heads that the cow is not designed to harvest.
While this progression by grass in nutrient composition does indeed conform to the requirements of a cow’s physiological cycle from spring to fall, the grass tends to go through its cycle a lot faster than the cow unless it is carefully managed. To keep a pasture green and productive there must be enough rainfall or irrigation. It needs also to be mowed to retard its cycle.
Mowing is something a cow does with enthusiasm. But for her to meet her needs on grass, besides being of good quality, the grass must be more than two inches long, preferably seven to eight inches long. At seven inches long she can efficiently wrap her tongue around it and shear it off with her bottom incisors. She does not have top incisors. Picture yourself grabbing a handful of grass and cutting it off an inch or two above the ground with a knife. Shorter grass is much harder to harvest this way. So is long grass after it gets stringy. A cow will keep working at it, but unless her pasture is in good condition (green grass around seven inches in length), she works harder and gets less for her trouble. One result is lower milk production.
If not done by the cow, mowing should be done with a scissors-type mowing machine or a reel mower. A flail-type mower should not be used. It will disperse manure and make a cow very reluctant to graze.
Grass can also be kept down by putting more animals on it. This is very much a judgment call. If, like me, you have more pasture than one cow can eat, she will start off in June with a feast. There is no way that either she or I can keep up with the rate of growth, since I lack the equipment. Soon it is tall and stemmy. But with an appropriate stocking rate and movable fencing I could maintain my cow on pasture alone far longer than I do, and even have untrampled grass growing up for hay. Her production level begins to decline on my regimen.
Dairy graziers accept the lower production level because the inputs are also lower, so the bottom line remains undisturbed, or even improves, and these advantages can apply to you and me. There is less supplementary feed to buy or grow. Most of the manure is left in the field, so there is less labor in barn cleaning and less fertilizer to buy for the fields. There is less equipment to maintain and make payments on, so there is less farm debt to service. Dairy families are thus less vulnerable to vagaries in milk price and so sleep better at night. And veterinary bills are significantly lower; virtually all cow health problems are diminished in a herd on grass.
That is, all health problems except one. A total grazing regimen has sometimes been described as “slow starvation.” The cow’s condition must be carefully monitored. It’s one thing to forfeit some potential milk production. But it is the nature of the mammary gland to keep producing milk as often as milk is removed. That is why you will sometimes see a picture of a nursing mother in a starving human population holding on her lap a fairly satisfactory-looking infant while she herself is emaciated. I have seen pitifully emaciated cows in sparse pastures where they were left to make their own living while feeding a calf; the calf usually looks just fine. Extremes such as this are not likely to occur in a commercial dairy. But the good genetics of the modern dairy cow do prompt her to milk well for many months, and few total grazing regimens can adequately support her, even if she is producing only 60 percent of her potential. If she begins to lose condition, she should be supplemented with grain, her energy food, or with quality hay. (For non-grain choices, see here.)
A cow on pasture should never be expected to “clean up her plate,” as noted earlier in connection with hay. She needs to be able to make her choice among mouthfuls of grass. Expect her to eat no more than two-thirds of the available grass. This is her nature. You would have to starve her into eating it all. It reminds me of small children. I guess they could be starved into cleaning their plates. Failing that, they seem willing to eat only about two-thirds of what’s served to them.
It is not merely milk production that suffers if a cow doesn’t get enough to eat. Like any malnourished female, conception rate is impaired. A malnourished cow that is in calf may abort or deliver a feeble calf.
Species of grass vary greatly according to latitude. In the northern United States the native grasses are typically lower in lignin and more digestible. Southern dairymen often plant annuals such as rye grass in the fall to provide grazing. Plots of rye are easily grown on a small scale.
Appropriately managed, a total or near total grazing plan can be the cheapest, the easiest, and the healthiest way to keep a cow. It is indeed the environment for which she is designed. Yet dairymen and family cow owners who choose to pasture feed their cows without offering concentrates must do a balancing act. While it is perfectly true that grass is the natural food of the cow, to produce a volume of milk sufficient to make it worthwhile to own a cow, this has got to be very good grass. Little grass of such quality exists on contemporary farmland except where the farmer has worked for years to improve the pasture. Furthermore, in much of the United States there is no winter pasture. Cows must stand in the barn and eat hay. Few produce much milk on hay alone. There are indeed some parts of the United States, England, Ireland, New Zealand, and elsewhere where grass grows year-round, making year-round grazing possible. Even so, the majority of graziers choose to dry off all their cows during the part of the year when grazing is at its poorest.
The motivation to feed grass alone (in moist temperate climates) or summer grass/winter hay (in cold climates) derives from:
• Saving a lot of money otherwise spent on concentrates
• Saving a lot of time on cow care and giving yourself a three- to four-month vacation from milking
• Optimizing in milk levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) and other long-chain fatty acids and of some vitamins, all of which decline when the cow leaves pasture
For those like myself who prefer somewhat higher production and want milk throughout the year, there is no other choice than to supplement hay feeding with some form of concentrate. Most of the time I feed three or four pounds per day of COB (corn-oats-barley) that my feed store imports from Canada. It is only about 12 percent protein but is non-GM. I supplement this with kelp (½ cup per day) and, in winter, vitamin E.
I urge cow owners who aspire to total grass feeding not to allow attainment of a nutritional ideal to overcome common sense. A cow in a cold climate on hay alone will get very thin. If she is also milking and making a calf she may even die. In summer, her pasture must be sufficiently long and lush to keep her in good flesh. If you want to experiment with total grass feeding, monitor your cow’s weight with a weight tape every week. If she cannot maintain her weight, supplement with alfalfa or other high-quality hay, concentrates, or both. I question whether moderate grain feeding (just what’s necessary to support weight maintenance) and steady production results in milk of inferior quality.
Estimating Pasture
Here is the rule of thumb for estimating the amount of grazing in a pasture. Place the outside edge of your hand on the ground and measure how high the grass rises against your finger. Measure only the height of the leaves, not the stems; stems have no forage value. If the grass is as high as your first two fingers (one and a half to two inches high), there is approximately 1,400 pounds of forage dry matter per acre. But let it grow. This is too short to graze more than very briefly without damage to the field. It is also too short for a cow to efficiently graze.
When the forage is as high as your fully extended thumb (six to seven inches high), there is approximately 2,600 pounds of forage dry matter per acre. But since one and a half to two inches should be allowed to remain in the pasture, that leaves 1,200 pounds per acre for the cow. This is the perfect height. Much higher, and it will get stemmy. A cow will not select stemmy grass if she can avoid it, so those stems will go to seed, retarding regrowth and lowering productivity of the pasture. This amount of grazing will last a cow about one month if the grass remains in good heart.
Supplementing Grazing
If you need to supplement the grazing, you can try feeding hay, but a cow won’t eat it when good grass is available. Ready-mixed dairy feed at 14 or 16 percent protein will not be refused, though. If yours is an all-organic cow, use any organic grain you can get. The main point is to boost energy intake (carbohydrates), and all grains are a good source. Keep in mind the importance of not feeding grain on an empty rumen. If the cow is out all night, she will have grazed before you got up and won’t be empty. If she is kept in at night, give her a little hay first thing.
If you’re feeding supplemental grain, check the cow’s dung for the presence of whole unchewed grain. If they’re coming out whole, she’s having trouble digesting them. Oats and some other grains can be made more digestible by being rolled or sprouted.
Magnesium Deficiency and Bloat
All cattle are susceptible to magnesium deficiency or imbalance when grazing lush pasture, but calves and young stock more so than older cattle. It causes a paralysis called magnesium tetany, sometimes called grass tetany. It may be accompanied by tremors. If you are in doubt about the mineral levels of your forage, a magnesium supplement is good insurance. Mineral mixtures high in magnesium are available from feed stores or by mail order and can be offered free choice.
Bloat can afflict cattle of any age, with certain animals being more susceptible than others. It is most likely to occur when a cow with an empty rumen is turned out on cold, wet, lush grass. Grazing large amounts of clover or alfalfa can cause bloat at any time. If the night was cold (especially if it was frosty) and the dew is heavy, conditions common in the spring when forage is lush, and the cow spent the night in the barn, then forestall trouble by not letting her out until she has eaten some hay and the frost is off the grass. Hay in her rumen will prevent bloat.
I have not seen bloat occur when the cow spent the night outside nibbling grass at will. Nor have I seen it when grass was three inches high or less, making gobbling impossible.
Bloat is an emergency. Read the section on bloat in chapter 16, “Diseases and Disorders.” Study it ahead of time and be prepared.
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Extending the Season
Anything you can do to extend the time during which your land feeds your cow will save you money. Kale is a crop able to withstand early freezing. It is easy to grow and produces a lot on a little land. Production is on the order of twenty tons to the acre, although much of this weight is water. Kale is rich in calcium and vitamins A and E, and like other brassica crops it rates high for energy and digestibility. It is a “milk feed,” meaning that milk production usually rises when it is fed. One-eighth of an acre could provide fifty pounds of kale a day for three months depending on conditions. This is at least twice as much as a cow should be allowed of kale. Chickens, any other animals you have, people, or your second cow can help eat it. Generally the crop is planted in late June or early July. This is usually after grass has peaked, so that a field could be grazed and then prepared for planting. It can work to plant a field to winter rye in fall, graze it in spring until late June, then put in kale. The crop is ready when your cow comes off her summer grazing, and if the temperatures do not drop below the twenties (Fahrenheit), very often the crop will stand in good condition until the end of the year. Continuous low temperatures will finally destroy it.
Kale and other brassicas (the cabbage family) are highly regarded in England as cattle feed, and they grow well in a cool, moist climate. Except for rape, brassicas are little used as dairy feed in the United States. (Commercial dairymen often feed rape because it is a cheap, available feed in many parts of the country, being the source of canola oil.) All members of the brassica family contain a chemical (glucosinolate) that interferes with the thyroid hormone known as thyroxin. Consequently, heavy or prolonged feeding with these crops can result in a thyroid hormone deficiency. When feeding these crops, be sure to feed some hay, and as a precaution keep iodized salt or free-choice kelp before your cow. Kale and all brassicas are quite high in calcium, so it is desirable also to supplement phosphorus.
Brassicas and other row crops are ill suited to large commercial operations where the logistics of running a herd in and out or cutting and carrying the feed to the cows can be overwhelming. But for one cow or a few, row crops have many advantages. Don’t be too daunted by the thyroxin issue. With the exception of grass, the majority of feeds have some disadvantage related to their chemical composition, and even some grasses have toxic phases. Ensuring your cow a varied diet forestalls most problems.
Although it is feasible to cut and carry kale, it is easiest to allow your cow to graze it in strips, using an electric fence that is moved back each day.
Mangels, sugar beets, and turnips also make excellent feed for cows. The tops can be fed fresh, and the mature roots (weighing as much as five pounds each) can be put into frost-free storage. Pumpkins and potatoes can be used similarly. Ten pounds a day of these vegetables is enough to feed a cow along with hay. This will perk up a cow’s diet, add a variety of minerals and vitamins, yet not cause any metabolic imbalances. Mangels are hugely productive and highly nutritious for cattle and can serve as a grain substitute.
Any vegetables you feed must be cut into pieces not exceeding about the size of half an apple. They should be fed from the floor rather than from a raised manger. This helps avoid choking, which seldom occurs when food is eaten off the ground. Having no upper incisors, a cow cannot bite into anything big. She needs pieces her tongue can wrap around and place between her molars.
Field corn is a relatively easy crop to grow in most areas. Instead of making silage from it, shuck the ears and allow them to dry in bins made of rodent-proof hardware cloth. Cornstalks (corn stover) can be dried outdoors in shocks (leaned together like tepees and tied at the top). In most climates there will be a lot less waste if these are later stored under cover. Cornstalks can substitute for part of the hay ration. Cows like them, but they are lower in protein and higher in lignin than good hay. Cows do a pretty good job of eating cornstalks even without chopping.
Homegrown feeds including the above and others such as peas and beans (feed cows the entire plant) may be grown much as you might grow and harvest a vegetable garden for family use. Ten pounds of this and ten pounds of that, and pretty soon your cow is well fed. This was the way cows were kept for many centuries, and continue to be in many places, and it works. “Work” is of course the operant word. Your personal motivations for having a cow will guide your decisions on how much, if any, of her feed you decide to grow.
There is one old-fashioned food source for a cow that is hardly any work at all: you can cut down a leafy tree. Alder is a favorite of cows. If there is brushy second growth to be cleared, this can make a lot of sense. Once the trees have been felled, it will allow the cow access to the leaves, and she will clean them up. For this purpose be careful to avoid any species of wild cherry, as it is toxic to livestock.
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Water
Water should be available at all times. It is depressing to observe how often a potentially high-producing cow owned by a loving family and generously supplied with expensive feed fails to give the milk she could simply because she hasn’t enough water. Providing insufficient water is probably the most common error among family cow owners. A bucket carried by your little boy a couple of times a day is not the answer. Water is serious business for a dairy cow. Plan a system that does not involve any carrying of water or she will be chronically thirsty and you will be out of temper. She needs a great big tub she can walk to every time she feels like it.
A water supply in winter can be a lot of trouble if your barn is cold like mine. I have a tap wrapped with heat tape. It is inside an insulated housing about four feet high. The hose can remain attached and rolled up inside its house.. An electric light bulb stays on inside this box. The entire thing is covered with two horse blankets. Most of the time the system does not freeze.
If possible, warm the water slightly in the winter. There are submersible heaters sold for this purpose (be sure your submersible heater has a proper electrical ground). Too much cold water all at once is hard on a cow. One winter our water supply froze solid for months. The only way the cows could get water was by a long walk to the river, where I chopped open the ice for them. I could manage this only twice a day. Of course, the highest-producing cow was the thirstiest. She was also the thinnest, and several times she went into awful shaking spells when she drank a large quantity. At the time we had no option apart from selling the cattle. But I have read of cows dying from this sort of thing, even in warm weather, if water has been withheld too long. It is called water toxicity.
A cow needs at least ten gallons of water to produce five gallons of milk if she is on dry feed, plus additional water, totaling as much as thirty gallons, to meet her other physical requirements. On green grass she requires somewhat less due to moisture in the forage. Much of the water goes to produce saliva, which she mixes with her cud as she chews. If there are critics to be answered regarding the water consumption of dairy cattle, note that this water does not disappear; aside from creating valuable milk, water consumed by a cow is returned to the land as urine and manure, and it becomes part of the natural cycle of nutrients. It does not become part of the polluted waste stream as occurs in cities. It is not lost.
A fifty-gallon plastic stock water tank from a farm supply store is a good investment. Float valves are available so that the tank can remain dependably full. In warm weather it will need frequent cleaning to get rid of algae. I wouldn’t recommend galvanized water tanks. As rain becomes more acid, there is a potential for a reaction with the zinc surface. Zinc in this form is poisonous. The common practice of adding a little vinegar to the cattle tank is inadvisable in a galvanized tank.
At all times I keep a board or branch in my water tank. This way, I never find little drowned animals.
A cow is thirstiest right after milking and will usually head straight for water. If there are several animals that must compete for the same water supply, attend carefully to the possibility that the boss animal is intimidating the others. A cow interrupted in quenching her thirst by reaching the end of the supply, or anything else for that matter, will usually not resume drinking again for a long time, and milk production will suffer. Always treat a cow’s drinking as a sacred moment, one in which she is not to be hurried. Try not to allow anything to interfere with her nice long drink. Instead she will go in search of food. After all, she does not care how much milk she makes.
A cow will not walk a long way for water unless she is extremely thirsty. She will walk much farther for food. So if she will be walking five to ten minutes away to graze, it becomes especially important that her drink is ready and waiting before she sets out.
Water supplies in most parts of the country are now at risk for nitrates. If you have a private well, you will want to have it tested once a year for nitrates for both your own safety and that of your cow. They may come from runoffs of agricultural applications or from contamination by septic systems.
If you must use chlorinated water, either install a dechlorination system or at least get a water tank with a broad surface area so that the chlorine has a chance to dissipate. Chlorine suppresses rumen bacteria. Dairy farmers also defluorinate their cows’ water if fluoride levels exceed 1.5 milligrams per liter.
Farm ponds also need evaluation. If manure can get in the water from animals grazing nearby or from waterfowl, or if the water is stagnant or contains decomposing vegetation, it becomes easy for coliform bacteria (E. coli) to exist at a high level. As discussed earlier, the common strains of E. coli are not toxic in the colon, where they are meant to live, but if consumed in large quantities they will compete with proper rumen bacteria, making fermentation less efficient and giving a cow a chronic stomachache. Milk production will of course be affected.
An emergency water supply that has been a lifesaver for some people, whether for farm or domestic use, is an old milk tanker truck filled up with water. A milk tanker will have always been kept clean, unlike other tankers, which may have been used for anything.
Cows know when water is clean and free of chemicals or bacteria, and when it is clean they drink a lot more.
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Stray Voltage
Stray voltage is a very serious problem around cattle or any four-footed animal that stands on bare earth or damp cement. It is much more common a problem than you would think. Electric companies have been reluctant to address the issue and may even deny the possibility. Take great care that all wiring near cattle is properly insulated and grounded. Electricity can travel a surprising distance through soil. Animals are rarely harmed in any great way by stray voltage, but they may become very reluctant to walk through a muddy spot to the water tank or be hesitant to drink because they are getting a buzz. If the water tank appears crystal clear but your cow won’t drink from it, suspect stray voltage. It usually cannot be felt by humans, but a cow’s nose is especially sensitive to it.
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Salt
A cow needs salt available every day. If she lives in her stall, you can buy a small block and a holder to attach to the wall so she can lick it anytime. Outdoors, the easiest method I know to make salt available is to get a fifty-pound block. The block will have a hole in it. You simply drive a pipe into the ground and then fit the salt block over it, with the pipe in the hole. This will last for months. Rain will erode it to some extent. I always buy the red block with added minerals. A cow won’t get enough minerals from the block to meet all her needs.
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Methane Production by Ruminants
Methane, because of its role as a greenhouse gas, has received a great deal of attention. Its production by ruminants is widely misunderstood. It is a normal by-product wherever fermentation occurs. I introduced the following discussion in the Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener quarterly for June 20, 2010.
Methanogens, a life form smaller than bacteria known as archaea, do part of the work in the rumen. Methanogens produce methane (CH4) when extra hydrogen is left over following less efficient fermentation of cellulose by (other) rumen bacteria. This occurs when cellulose, a form of glucose, is split. Methane is also known as swamp gas or natural gas. If you cook or heat with gas you are using methane. Like CO2 from oil or coal, the methane we cook or heat with lies stored in the earth and remains inert until mined and released. Megatons, trapped following ancient fermentation, are now being released from tundra by melting permafrost. Oceanographers now describe vast belches coming up in the Bering Sea and South China Sea. In some places the sea is foaming like a shaken soda, the methane is emerging so fast. Anthropogenic (human derived) sources of methane are rice paddies and landfills, both of which emit more methane than does livestock. The rumen is a controlled fermentation vat and produces methane at a modulated rate.
Methane contains energy, as you know if you cook with it. The amount a cow’s rumen produces varies according to diet. As mentioned above, the rumen is designed to ferment stringy cellulose (grass, hay), not grain, and consequently much of the grain a cow eats is passed unaltered to gut digestion, similar to our own, and and is not fermented. For this reason a diet high in grain results in proportionately less methane release compared to grass or hay, which always must be fermented in the rumen. Forbs (broad-leafed plants) found in natural pasture assist with fermentation and boost its efficiency so that less of methane’s energy is lost to the cow. Like the buffalo before them and the deer in the woods, grazing cattle will always belch up excess methane. Ruminants produce more methane than other plant-eating species because their large rumens are actively breaking down more cellulose, much to our benefit. This does not unbalance the universe and never has. It feeds us.
Cattle, whether beef or dairy, if eating diets high in grain, will, as noted, produce proportionately less methane than do cattle on grass or hay because much of the grain fails to be fermented but is instead passed intact to the small intestine for standard carbohydrate digestion. However, the practice of collecting manure as slurry in vast lagoons produces methane by the ton. These lagoons are also the mode of collecting manure from swine and poultry CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations); thus swine and poultry, despite being nonruminants, also become responsible for methane production. Methane production is anaerobic (without oxygen). Manure lagoons crust over on top and the slurry does not circulate; these lagoons provide ideal anaerobic conditions. It is these lagoons, not cattle themselves, that are the chief source of methane now being attributed to livestock production.
Upon first consideration it might be supposed that if cows were out grazing on pasture the methane contribution from manure would be the same as in confinement, merely spread out over the countryside. This is not the case. Cow patties dropped in the open air on pasture result in no methane production. Cow patties in the open air do not support methanogens. They are consumed by insects, birds, and aerobic soil bacteria.
Beyond its role as a greenhouse gas, methane remains an important energy source. Methanogens (the bacteria that produce methane) have many important roles. Archaea in the seabed, for example, have been found to play a central role in the planetary nitrogen cycle on which all life depends. Methane is at risk of becoming demonized before it is properly understood.
So why don’t we move cows out of feedlots and dairy barns and onto pasture where they can participate in the short-term carbon cycle and carry on belching harmlessly like their ancestors? Quite aside from resistance from agribusiness, which prefers things as they are, many well-respected writers and scientists dismiss this as a practical impossibility. Insufficient land is the usual excuse. Comparisons of food calories per acre between animal and vegetable production are always mentioned. Academic studies consistently state that cows cannot be pastured locally on grass in numbers adequate to meet consumer needs. But until it has been attempted, nobody is qualified to make such a statement. Well-known Maine farmer and gardener Eliot Coleman has repeatedly demonstrated that production from a vegetable garden is by no means finite and can be impressively greater than most people realize; the same is true with cows, no “pushing” required. Estimates of land requirements obtained by dividing the number of people into USDA statistics for farmland acreage make it sound hopeless to depend upon local food production of animals or vegetables. These linear production models, seldom challenged, have formed the basis for assumptions about the potential for meat and milk production by influential environmental writers and researchers, few of whom have a cow in the backyard. But there is no linear relationship here. The upper limit for integrated local food production of plants and animals depends on dedication and imagination and is not known. When free-market forces are allowed to operate, food production soars. We do not currently enjoy free-market conditions. The very fact that so many local growers are already flourishing under stifling constraints hints at what we may look forward to if and when some of the more onerous regulations are eased.
Coleman questions the assertion that animal agriculture has anything to do with global warming. He suspects that oil interests and corn and soy producers, along with vegetarian cheerleaders, are feeding us disinformation about the role of animal production as a factor in climate change. It is in fact plant crops that are responsible for displacing small farms in both the United States and Africa and for deforestation of lands in South and Central America and in South Asia. Cattle are used as a quick cash crop before the land is dragged clear for corn, soybeans, or palm oil. Statistics regarding the contribution of animal agriculture to greenhouse gas production are clearly being manipulated for somebody’s benefit.
Here are U.S. EPA figures from 2007; ratios change little from year to year: In 2007 U.S. agriculture accounted for 6 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Of this 6 percent, 24 percent was from enteric (rumen) fermentation by cattle (excluding manure management). So 6 percent × 0.24 = 1.44 percent. If all cattle were killed, then 100 − 1.44 = 98.6 percent of U.S. agricultural greenhouse gas emissions are still with us. Absent methane emanating from manure lagoons, the methane contribution of cattle (called enteric) is negligible. The real sources of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are manure lagoons and the petrochemical inputs to plant crops. Declarations about environmental damage by cattle are based on our current unsustainable animal husbandry practices involving CAFOs.