Any reason beef cattle can't co-exist with geese and/or turkeys?

[Anne]

We have 2 beef cattle on 5 acres of lush, green pasture. Would it be bad to let a few turkeys and/or geese out there with them? The biggest problem I'm forseeing is geese might want to use the water trough for a pond... but perhaps there are other issues... maybe beef cattle shouldn't ingest bird droppings, I don't know. Advice please?

Thanks,

Anne

 

[Alisha in Cali]

The little feathered ones would love you if you let them out with the cattle. Mine think cow poop is a delicious! They even mingled with my bulls that got into my front yard and everyone seemed to get along greet. The only problem I thought of was if one had polish or silkies, they might not be able to see well enough to avoid getting stepped on. Even though my stupid polish hen avoided getting stepped on if there are aggressive cattle it might not be okay. In "Polyfaced Farm" by Joel Salatin he rotationally grazes his cattle ahead of his chicken flock and says that keeps down internal parasites in the cattle. Geese in the water trough will be a problem, I'm not sure how to deal with that. Maybe chicken wire below the surface of the water would make it unpleasant to lounge in?