The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates what cows cannot eat, and the full list, which is here, includes these highlights: “unborn calf carcasses,” “dehydrated garbage,” and “fleshings hydrolysate.” You’re also not allowed to feed cattle the meat and meat byproducts from cows and other mammals, though there …

Cows in the dairy industry suffer their entire lives. From the moment they enter this world they are treated like commodities. Special bonds are routinely broken and cows often develop painful medical conditions. Just like humans, cows only produce milk for their offspring.

Potatoes are high in rapidly digestible starch (70 percent of the dry matter); cattle should be gradually introduced to a potato diet. Free-choice feeding is not recommended. Up to half of cattle’s dry matter ration may be potatoes. Since cooked potatoes may be less palatable to cattle, they should be processed raw.

Onion Poisoning Beef cattle have an affinity for cull onions and can acquire acute and potentially lethal disease if it becomes a large portion of their diet.

Potatoes may be fed raw to cattle, sheep, horses and swine but are best cooked for swine. Raw potatoes have only 213 the value of cooked potatoes fed to pigs. Raw potatoes are best fed sliced thru a root cutter. Frozen, rotted or decayed potatoes may cause trouble if fed to livestock.

For rumen animals such as cattle and sheep, use raw potatoes. One of the most successful methods of storing and feeding potatoes is to ensile them with a roughage source such as ground alfalfa or other hays.

Carrots are quite palatable and readily consumed by cattle. Feeding high levels of fresh carrots may cause some scouring which can be minimized by storage for a few weeks. Carrots can also serve as an energy source in cow diets. A report indicated cows will eat up to 35 lb of carrots per day.

Sweet potatoes are not a good fiber source for cattle. Fresh sweet potatoes can substitute for at about one-half of the grain fed to cattle. Wet potatoes or dried potato meal may be used as cattle feed up to about 20 to 25 percent of the diet on a dry matter basis.

Also, the raisin industry has an abundance of stems and rejected dried grapes that may serve as a source of cattle feed.

Those thick, sharp-tasting orange peels that people would never dream of eating are “snack heaven” for cows. Not only does the cow get good roughage and vitamins, but it also gets an antimicrobial boost from the peel’s essential oils.

Cows can eat dehydrated or fresh fruits, ripe, cooked, or green. They can be either sliced, whole or with peels.

• Watermelon.
• Bananas.
• Apples.
• Carrots.
• Mangoes.
• Oranges.
• Pineapples.
• Kiwi.

Cattle should be gradually acclimated to the pears by feeding 2 or 3 pounds as fed per day and increasing the amount 2 or 3 pounds as fed per day per head until they are getting the desired amounts. One of the biggest problems with feeding fresh pears is their highly perishable nature.

Cows eat grass and hay. On a dry matter basis a cow will eat 4 to 5 tons of forage per year. As long as there is pasture for the cows to eat it is most economical to let them graze.

Avocados grow in tropical and mediterranean climates throughout the world. Toxicity following the ingestion of avocado has been observed in cattle, horses, goats, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, canaries, budgerigars, cockatiels, ostriches, chickens, turkeys, and fish.

Yes, dogs can eat pears. Pears are a great snack because they’re high in copper, vitamins C and K, and fiber. Just be sure to cut pears into bite-size chunks and remove the pit and seeds first, as the seeds contain traces of cyanide.