Wild cows, also referred to as bovines, can be found around the world. Their natural habitat includes North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Bovidae includes antelope, goats and sheep. Their distinguishing features include powerful horns as well as keen senses of smell and hearing to help them avoid predators.
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Grass
Grass is the primary food source for ruminant animals such as cattle, elk and bison. This diet is essential because it supplies them with essential nutrients necessary for their survival.
Contrary to most animals, cows lack upper teeth and instead use their tongue to sweep grass into their mouth. She then presses her sharp bottom teeth against a hard pad on the front of their jaw, cutting away any grass blades before chewing them up.
She consumes this grass until she is full, then returns it to her mouth for more chewing – a process known as rumination. Although this may seem trivial, it takes hours of her daily life to do this ritual.
Leaves
Leaves are an integral part of wild cow diets. They provide essential minerals, vitamins and roughage for all types of ruminants – including cows, goats and sheep.
Cattle are grazers, meaning they use their tongue and lower teeth to grab leaves, grasses or weeds before swallowing them down the esophagus in a process known as rumination.
Ruminants typically ruminate for eight hours per day, returning partially digested food – known as cud – to their stomach. The rumen contains bacteria which break down incoming vegetation to release essential nutrients.
Trees
Recently, Cattle Chat podcast discussed why wild cattle might forage on tree branches when hungry. Just like people, these animals should only do this when they’re truly starving.
Trees provide valuable vitamins and minerals for cattle, particularly Hazel and Apple trees. Furthermore, trees help reduce pollution in water bodies while sequestering carbon.
However, certain trees can be toxic to livestock and their leaves may cause issues when cattle forage on them. For instance, red maple leaves produce cyanide when they wilt.
Fruits
Wild cows graze on grass and legumes, as well as enjoy the fruits of the crop. One particularly exciting treat for them are nipples – ripe and juicy portions of grapes, kiwis, pawpaws, peaches and nectarines that fall from trees in droves.
The great thing about most of these nutrient-rich fruits is that they’re free for the taking. What’s even more intriguing is that the best fruits contain microorganisms and insects who graze on their fleshy parts to aid digestion, making them easier to digest and more appealing to livestock.
Grains
Cows obtain more than 50% of their nutritional needs from grass (which they refer to as hay or silage). They also consume small amounts of grain, making up less than one-quarter of their ration.
Grains such as corn, barley, oats, wheat and rye are often partly “processed,” or rolled, ground, cracked or steamed to make them easier for cattle to digest.
Since cows are used to eating forage, it’s best to introduce grain slowly and gradually. Doing this allows microbial populations to adjust and digestive problems can be minimized.
Other Foods
Wild cows typically feed on grasses, but they will occasionally consume other foods as well. This includes by-products like almond hulls, canola meal (the leftovers from making canola oil), citrus pulp and more that would otherwise go to waste.
Cattle are grazers, meaning they use their tongue and lower teeth to pick up grasses and other forage before quickly swallowing it in their large stomach called the rumen. After this, cattle may bring partially digested food back up to their mouths for additional chewing – this process is known as rumination – which occurs with millions of microbes present within their digestive system.
