Turn Cows Into Weed Managers!

Information and Training for Turning Livestock into Land Management Tools

	Joe Morris, a rancher in San Juan Bautista, CA taught some of his cows to eat milk thistle in March of 2007 after attending a workshop "The bonus was that they not only ate the milk thistle in the pasture, but they ate the Italian thistle and the black mustard. It was easy. You can do it!"

Share Your Training Story With Others!

After you've trained your cows to eat a weed, drop me an email with your story and I'll share it with visitors to this site. People learn by example, and your example could be the one that makes the difference for someone else. Just email me at:
kvoth@livestockforlandscapes.com

In 2004, I developed a process for teaching cows to eat weeds as part of a cooperative pilot project between Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Montana and Utah State University. Cows learned to eat Canada thistle, leafy spurge and spotted knapweed, they ate all three weeds in pasture and they and their calves continued to eat them in 2005.

Since then I have been refining the process. Today, I can teach a cow to eat a new weed in as little as 5 days and to include it in her diet on a regular basis within ten days. It can cost as little as $3.40 per animal in materials and 8 hours labor and even that investment is reduced by 50% every time a cow has a calf.

How fast do cows learn from each other? Well in 2007, 12 trained cows in a management intensive grazing system trained 120 others to eat Italian thistle. That's ten cows trained for every one cow I worked with!

Try it! The process is easy, and anyone could do it.

Why Eat Weeds?

In 2000, farmers and ranchers in the U.S. alone were spending $5 billion on pasture weed control annually.

So how's that working for us? Resource managers tell us that weeds are still spreading at an average rate of 14% per year and that 9 out of 21 of the most endangered ecosystems and two thirds of endangered species in the United States are significantly impacted by weeds.

If we can't beat them using our old techniques, why not try something new, cheaper, and easier? When cows eat weeds farmers and ranchers can use them to:

Reduce weeds and herbicide use
Improve pastures and wildlife habitat
Increase profitability, and
Protect organic certifications

Check out the links at the left to learn more about how to's and my projects. Or order the DVD "Turning Cows Into Weed Managers."

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