Author Topic: Can I feed potatoes to cattle? (Read 16619 times)

Rosemary · « **on:** January 14, 2014, 07:35:59 pm »

I don't have loads - just a few 20kg sacks from a farmer friend "for the pigs" except the pigs are now sausages.

I've seen potatoes put in silage at making and they cook in the fermentation so would I need to cook these potatoes for my girls or will they eat them raw? Should I chop them up? Worried about them choking.

bigchicken · « **Reply #1 on:** January 14, 2014, 08:37:02 pm »

Yes you can feed tatties to your cattle as a supplement to there normal feed. I think you could start of with smallish amounts and build it up to be no more then a certain % which I don't know. Google! I remember as a boy seeing the dairy farmer my father worked for getting lorry loads of tatties which had blue dye sprayed on them so they could not be resold to the general public, the farmer had a turnip slicer thingy and the they went through that. O and we used the tatties as the dye was only on the outside, they were great.

F.CUTHBERT · « **Reply #2 on:** January 14, 2014, 09:36:45 pm »

Tatties are a good feed for cattle especially if you are fattening them. Lots of farms feed them add lib to finishers. Like all feeds they should be introduced gradually unless you want to upset the rumen bugs.
Choking is a big danger with potatoes so they are better chopped or crushed. My theory is the cattle get a taste for them then greedily try to eat as many as they can without chewing them properly or one beast is rolling a tattie round it's mouth when another beast gives it a dunt causing it swallow the tattie whole. They are less likely to choke if fed on the ground rather than a raised trough.
If it is just a couple of bags like you say I would put them on a hard floor and stamp on them to burst them open, should be safe as houses then.
Are they not worth eating yourself?

honeyend · « **Reply #3 on:** January 14, 2014, 10:48:45 pm »

Mum and step dad practically lived on stock feed potatoes. The crisp makers used to turn them away if they were not right, so they were sprayed with purple dye and sold as cattle fodder for the cost of haulage.

Bodger · « **Reply #4 on:** January 14, 2014, 11:37:09 pm »

Definitely chop them, we have friends who had a stirk get one lodged in its throat.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2014, 11:59:28 pm »

Never heard of feeding spuds to cattle, but others have, clearly! We get spuds for our pigs from a dairy farm - I may ask them if they use them as fodder themselves next time I get some...

The only other thing is whether green skin is as dangerous to breeding cattle as it is to humans and pigs?

langfauld easycare · « **Reply #6 on:** January 15, 2014, 09:03:52 pm »

tatties are great for putting milk or meat on cattle if they are big then you can feed them whole as they have to chew them . if they are smaller then they are safer cut or crushed to stop them chocking. it takes them a couple of days to realize what they are but after that they love them . i was also feeding my ewes with them during lambing time last year when the grass took forever to come . they enjoyed them and did well on them.

my old gran told me about feeding her cows on the waste bananas from the geest warehouse that used to be near her . rekons the cows would have ran over the top of you to get them . big bunches at a time skins and all

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Rosemary · « **Reply #7 on:** January 15, 2014, 09:12:37 pm »

Do they need to be cooked?

langfauld easycare · « **Reply #8 on:** January 15, 2014, 09:38:04 pm »

no raw. think i used 10 or twelve ton last year wouldy fancy cookin all them

.

although pigs are ment to get more out of them if they are cooked but can also take them raw
i have seen them put in bales and pit with grass for silage the heat of the silage cooks them gives no problems with choking as they are soft.

the main worry/problem is choking as the go daft for them wolfing into them. but they really are a superb feed

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #9 on:** January 15, 2014, 10:09:42 pm »

BH has fed them, raw, to cattle but found they really did need to be chopped up - had the vet to two greedy so-and-so's who tried swallowing them whole!

The thing with pigs is that feeding raw spuds actually depletes the protein in the rest of the feed, so is counter-productive. Ruminent digestion being completely different, I have no idea whether the same would be true in cattle - as everything gets fermented in the rumen, I guess not?

Rosemary · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2014, 09:14:25 am »

i think I'll cook them - they'll be nice warm on a cold day

lilfeeb · « **Reply #11 on:** January 16, 2014, 09:36:13 am »

when i worked at Strathmore estates we used to feed suckler cows tatties, straw and pot ale syrup through the winter. the tatties were always raw. there is a risk of choking but if you could chop them up that would be safer.