I know many of you guys out there are urban chicken owners so this may not interest you but I thought I would write this since some people might be interested or have questions. We started out with just chickens and for a long time I was scared about the ideas of adding cows. I thought for sure they were going to runaround and trample my chickens to death and I thought that for weeks after we got our first milk cow. Until one day we decided to let our 300 7 week old chicks out to free range. I was relieved when I saw that they stayed close to the coop and wouldn't go in the pasture.Until one day when the young scared chicks became curious teenagers. One day I saw the chicks out in the pasture and freaked out because I thought they were toast but soon realized the cows the cows didn't even pay attention to the chickens. The cows actually liked them because the chicken would walk around and peck at the flies on the cows. Here we r a year later and I have found some pros and cons in this little journey.
PROS:
1. Cattle are really bad at digesting grains therefore most of the grain a cow eats passes right through the body and is still in the cow pies which the chickens will scratch in and eat any left over grain. (This may gross some of you out).
2. Chickens scratch the cows pies and even them out in the pasture keeping the grass growing evenly and not letting the grass die under piles of manure.
3. Chickens walk around the cows and peck at flies on the cows back. The less flies there are on a cow the happier it is!!
4. Cows like many large animals eat hay in the winter months or when grass is low. Chickens enjoy scratching in spilt hay and eating the dry alfalfa and clover leaves. Same thing with straw the chickens will scratch in and eat any missed grain in it.
5. When your chickens are out scratching around the cattle they r more protected from predators. No hawk, eagle, fox or coyote is going to get close to cows just to eat a chicken. Its not worth the risk of getting kicked or smashed into the ground.
Cons:
1. Cows can be big. Which means when running they cant always stop right away and can be clumsy. The only bird that got killed by a cow got stepped on and it was my fault. I dropped a bucket of grain and a little cockerel ran over to eat and so did the cows and they didn't stop fast enough and stepped on the poor guy. This is the only other problem I have had.
Well I could have wrote more but I know I would get off subject if I did. If you have any questions or anything else feel free to PM me.
Thanks for reading!!
PROS:
1. Cattle are really bad at digesting grains therefore most of the grain a cow eats passes right through the body and is still in the cow pies which the chickens will scratch in and eat any left over grain. (This may gross some of you out).
2. Chickens scratch the cows pies and even them out in the pasture keeping the grass growing evenly and not letting the grass die under piles of manure.
3. Chickens walk around the cows and peck at flies on the cows back. The less flies there are on a cow the happier it is!!
4. Cows like many large animals eat hay in the winter months or when grass is low. Chickens enjoy scratching in spilt hay and eating the dry alfalfa and clover leaves. Same thing with straw the chickens will scratch in and eat any missed grain in it.
5. When your chickens are out scratching around the cattle they r more protected from predators. No hawk, eagle, fox or coyote is going to get close to cows just to eat a chicken. Its not worth the risk of getting kicked or smashed into the ground.
Cons:
1. Cows can be big. Which means when running they cant always stop right away and can be clumsy. The only bird that got killed by a cow got stepped on and it was my fault. I dropped a bucket of grain and a little cockerel ran over to eat and so did the cows and they didn't stop fast enough and stepped on the poor guy. This is the only other problem I have had.
Well I could have wrote more but I know I would get off subject if I did. If you have any questions or anything else feel free to PM me.
Thanks for reading!!
