Did you know…

Cattle have a FOUR chambered stomach and humans just have ONE?! That’s right! The first chamber softens the partially digested food, the second chamber softens the food even further and turns it into cud. The cud then gets regurgitated back to the mouth for MORE chewing. The third chamber traps any large chunks of undigested food and sends it back to the second chamber, and finally, the fourth chamber acts just like the human stomach and finishes digesting the food with enzymes. The leftovers move on to the intestines where they will be expelled from the body. Poo. :)

So what does that all mean? It means cattle can eat and digest plants that are inedible for you and me. In other words… they love to eat food that would give you a tummy ache. I mean, can you imagine snacking on grass or hay? But that’s not all cattle eat, although they do eat a lot of grass and hay.

As with most farms, we work with a professional cattle nutritionist to make sure our herd is receiving a balanced diet with all the nutrients they need. Nutrition is kind of like a puzzle; you have to have all the right pieces to build a strong, healthy body. Let’s break it down piece by piece!

The Mamas, calves and bulls are rotated through multiple pastures that we’ve planted with:

Alfalfa (legume): main protein source

Peas (legume): secondary protein source

Oats (grass): Fiber/energy

Grass: Fiber/energy

Beyond that, the herd gets minerals (like vitamins) to balance out their other dietary needs.

Calves!

Calves love to drink their Mama’s milk and eat from their special creep feeder.

The calves have a special (small) feeder called a creep feeder where they get to munch on a grain mix and protein pellets. This helps to take the pressure off the nursing Mamas by providing the calves with a secondary source of nutrition.

The steers finish on a diet of mixed grains, corn stalks and protein pellets.

When the herd can no longer forage on freshly grown plants, they eat alfalfa and corn stalks that we’ve grown, cut and baled for the winter season along with their minerals. This means our hay season during the summer is really busy because it takes a lot of work to make sure we have enough feed for our cattle throughout the long Minnesota winter. The herd also LOVES winter silage. Silage is a big pile of fermented sweet corn stalks that provide energy during the cold months. The natural fermentation keeps the stalks from rotting and lasts the entire winter. It also has a sweet flavor (to the cattle… I wouldn’t recommend trying it) and they come running when it’s time for a fresh pile of silage.

Raking Hay

Before hay gets baled, it has to be raked into long rows so our baler can roll the hay into bales.

So there you have it, kiddos! Now you know more about what cattle eat and why their diet is different than yours and mine (pssst…. the four chambered stomach). If you’d like to learn more about cattle and actually SEE what they eat, visit us on the farm during the summer for one of our cattle tours! We take everyone around on a hay ride to visit the different pastures and see the herd doing what they do best… EAT!

Kid's Corner: What Do Cattle Eat?

Did you know…