Cattle Hemp treats and other natural bribes?

[DoubleD]

My wife and I have a small herd of cattle. We are strict about a natural diet. We will not feed CORN, GRAINS or SOY to our cattle. Its a promise to our customers. We are trying to figure out what bribes and treats we can use. We had considered using animal hemp treats. Does anybody know how the rumen reacts to hemp?

Has anybody have other treats they use to bribe their cows? We want to use this as a reward for our cows letting us touch them and handle them. Eventually we want to milk some of the cows (for our own use, strict Canadian regulations).

Looking forward to hearing some input.

[dexterlady]

DoubleD, what is cattle hemp?...Guess I must be dumb, I have never heard of this.... Thanks....dexterlady

[carragheendexters]

I've never heard of them either, surely they would be illegal. I can just envisage some pretty high cows

regards Louise

[DoubleD]

Sorry...there is a bit of ambiguity in the title.  It is not "Cattle Hemp" treats.  But cattle treats made from Hemp.

In Canada, it is quite leal to grow hemp, as the levels of active THC are so negligible that it's not really worh it to harvest it as a drug.  The plant itself is widely used up here, and is a much better replacement for wood pulp in making paper, since a field of hemp can be regrown WAY faster than a forest.

Up here you can buy hemp hulls at "healthy" stores, to help clean out your digestive track.  People make bracelets and other forms of jewellery, too.  It's actually a very useful plant.  I even watched a video about a gentleman who allowed his cattle to directly graze hemp.

On that note, we have seen bags of hemp treats for horses.  But, as of yet, we haven't spoken directly to anyone who has used them for cattle, so we aren't sure if we should proceed.  As far as we can tell, the horse ones are just hemp, with no added ingredients, so we might assume they are still safe.  We just try not to gamble on the lives of our girls based on assumptions.  We also don't know if it would be a particularly alluring reward for a Dexter.  Pretty sure the guy in the video was feeding them to Herefords, and they normally look stoned half the time anyway, so who can say.  Our Dexters were plucking leaves off of trees at Silver Creek, while the Herefords around them were scarfing down milkweed.

So, I guess this question will likely have to be directed more to our fellow Canadian members.  Any insights from other Canucks?

[lakeportfarms]

DoubleD, It's a bit late now and out of season, but we have our cows pastured in an old apple orchard. The trees are quite mature and they can't reach the apples, but we can. They are well trained to the sound of the "snap" as we pluck an apple off the tree. We'll quickly have a crowd of about 30 Dexters each doing their best to convince us that they are the "special cow" to deserve the apple in our hand. From what I've seen carrots hold the same power over them. You do have to be a bit careful about choke though.

When we don't have apples available, alfalfa cubes take their place. We break them down to smaller pieces than the chunks they sometimes come in. They're a bit easier to sneak to your selected cow. My wife has a bag she hides under her jacket to hold them. She used to put them in her pockets but we had too many alfalfa shreds over our clothes from the laundry! Perhaps the hemp treats are comparable, I don't know. I'm not a Canuck, but I can see Canada from my house!

[DoubleD]

Jan 16, 2014 8:37:24 GMT -5 lakeportfarms said:

DoubleD, It's a bit late now and out of season, but we have our cows pastured in an old apple orchard. The trees are quite mature and they can't reach the apples, but we can. They are well trained to the sound of the "snap" as we pluck an apple off the tree. We'll quickly have a crowd of about 30 Dexters each doing their best to convince us that they are the "special cow" to deserve the apple in our hand. From what I've seen carrots hold the same power over them. You do have to be a bit careful about choke though.

When we don't have apples available, alfalfa cubes take their place. We break them down to smaller pieces than the chunks they sometimes come in. They're a bit easier to sneak to your selected cow. My wife has a bag she hides under her jacket to hold them. She used to put them in her pockets but we had too many alfalfa shreds over our clothes from the laundry! Perhaps the hemp treats are comparable, I don't know. I'm not a Canuck, but I can see Canada from my house!

Thanks for the info.  We tried apples when we first got the herd.  The gentleman from whom we purchased them mentioned that they occasionally would eat some out in the orchard, but we found they had no interest in them.  Alfalfa cubes would probably entice them, but we have alfalfa in our pastures, too, so we were hoping for something a little more tempting.  And I think someone may have warned us off alfalfa cubes, but I can't for the life of me remember the reasoning.

Next time I'm over on the other side of the peninsula, I'll be sure to wave

[lavacaw]

When we were digging sweet potatoes one year, we had a bunch of small (almost rootlike) ones. I fed these to a couple of my cows that were right outside the garden and they loved them. Also have given midget carrots for treats and they liked those too.

[karenp]

How about black oil sunflower seeds, would that count as a grain? They are the favorite at my house.

[DoubleD]

Jan 16, 2014 12:04:38 GMT -5 karenp said:

How about black oil sunflower seeds, would that count as a grain? They are the favorite at my house.

Considering they get seed heads in the pasture sometimes anyway, I don't think sunflower seeds would count as grain.  My concern would be how much we could give as a reward, without upsetting the balance of the rumen, or having any kind of negative impact on health.  Definitely something to look into further.  Thanx!

btw, a friend of ours actually recommended that we add some grass seed into the mineral dish for the cows.  The seeds get inoculated in the rumen, and the cow poops out a chia pet.  Much quicker and more effective than trying to spread seed and hope the birds don't steal it all before it has a chance to germinate

[dexterfarm]

I have used horse apple treats. Some of mine love them some of them will not even try them. I do not know what is in them. would not be suprised if there was grain in them. You might try dehydrated apple pieces. I would guess alfalfa cubes are most likly made from GM alfalfa that is roundup sprayed if that is what you are trying to avoid. How about just some real good hay. Mine think it is special if you are giving it to them vs. having to eat it from the bale ring.

[zephyrhillsusan]

Some of ours like pieces of turnip and turnip greens. The nice thing about turnips is they keep fairly well in cold storage or in the fridge if you only need a few. We use alfalfa cubes like Hans does. I have a feeling that if you are hand feeding something to your cows and loving on them, it will be a treat for them even if they have alfalfa in the field.