# What is cow's food?



## andrepitt77 (Jul 8, 2011)

Hello friends, i have cow but i have know about their food. SO please if you have any knowledge about it then please reply me soon.


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## elevan (Jul 8, 2011)

Depends on their age and what your plans are for them...

An unweaned calf needs milk or replacer.  And can be started on calf grower pellets.  Also hay and / or pasture.

A weaned cow needs pellets or / and hay or / and pasture.


For example:
I have an unweaned calf.  His future is the freezer.  My plan is grass fed beef.
So currently he is getting milk replacer.
A small amount of Calf Manna pellets to help him grow after getting over his bad start in life.
All the pasture he wants.
Once he is weaned he will only get pasture and hay.

And of course fresh water and a mineral / salt block.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jul 8, 2011)

andrepitt77 said:
			
		

> Hello friends, i have cow but i have know about their food. SO please if you have any knowledge about it then please reply me soon.


Simple: Cows are herbivores, so they eat grass.  Or hay.


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## dreamcatcher (Jul 8, 2011)

So though you are feeding the calf milk you are ALSO letting him have hay and pellets? They shouldn't only be on milk?  I would have thought for awhile they would only get milk and then work over to the other stuff but a cow is a lot different than other animals so I am just making sure that I understand correctly.


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## elevan (Jul 8, 2011)

dreamcatcher said:
			
		

> So though you are feeding the calf milk you are ALSO letting him have hay and pellets? They shouldn't only be on milk?  I would have thought for awhile they would only get milk and then work over to the other stuff but a cow is a lot different than other animals so I am just making sure that I understand correctly.


Yes.  Even my goats that are drinking milk from their dam eat pellets and hay and browse.  Kind of like when a human baby is still getting a bottle but learning to eat baby food and other soft foods.  

How exactly do you think that the weaning process works?    They don't cold turkey make a switch and one day take away milk and put them onto a new diet...that only leads to stomach distress.


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## dreamcatcher (Jul 8, 2011)

Oh I figured that was true but I guess what I was meaning was like when do you start that? Is that right after they are born or do you wait a time before you begin the process of adding the hay and stuff in? Like days after they are born they can start eating grass or a couple of weeks, months...?  I wasn't trying to be rude. I have absolutely no knowledge of cows and was wondering.


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## elevan (Jul 8, 2011)

I'm newer to cows...more experience with goats.

The calf I started adding pellets at about 6 weeks of age...many people told me to put them in front of him from day 1.

Our goats have it all in front of them from day one and usually start trying things around a week old...so I'd imagine a calf would be similar.

I plan to completely wean my calf from milk over the next 30 days (he'll be just over 90 days old) and I may allow the pellets a little longer.  As I said he had a rough start in life.  Then he'll move to grass and hay only until he's ready to go to slaughter.

_Sorry to mistake your question for rudeness...the smiley's can be fun but at times they can get you into trouble._


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## WildRoseBeef (Jul 9, 2011)

Calves are always given access to hay or any type of forage available from day one, whether they're being bottle-fed or cow-raised.  This is so very true in beef breeding herds where calves stay with their mommas for 6 months or more.  Calves are curious creatures, and will naturally want to try out what Momma's eating for themselves.  For the first week or so though, calves won't be foraging as much because they will mostly be sleeping, getting up only when they're hungry for their dams' milk. They will be eating a little forage, but not as much as when they get a month old.  When they get around that age, then they're eating more.  By the time they are weaned they are on a 90% forage and 10% milk diet. 

I apologize for being such a smart-alec in the first post I made, as initially I had thought that, by the term "cow" you were not referring to calves, but rather mature females that have already had a calf or two. That's the first thing one should learn about cattle: using the term "cow" so loosely can get you into trouble.  It helps to be more specific (i.e., calf, cow, steer, heifer, bull, etc.) when you want to get the information you need.


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## elevan (Jul 9, 2011)

WildRoseBeef - Question for you:  I can find lots of info on grain fed beef but that's not what I want...I want my calf grass raised and finished...how long will it take me to get him to a good slaughter weight using the grass method?


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## WildRoseBeef (Jul 11, 2011)

Since he is around 3 months old, you may be looking at around another 12 to 14 months before he'll be ready for slaughter.  Usually grass-fed calves are slaughtered at a lighter weight than grain-fed calves, which is around 1200 lbs.  Most grass-fed calves are slaughtered around 18 to 20 months of age.


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