Educated Cows Eat Weeds!

Edible Plant List

Other Plants of Interest

The list of what cows have been trained to eat, or have decided to eat after becoming more educated about food is growing every year. Here is a partial list. Download the current list here. Visit my 2009 Boulder County project to download a report that includes nutritional information on the weeds cows ate.

• Black mustard
• Blackberry (Rubus spp)
• Bull thistle
• Canada golden rod
• Canada thistle
• Coyote Bush
• Diffuse knapweed
• Distaff thistle
• Field bindweed
• Field Scabious (Kautia arvensis)
• Horehound
• Italian thistle
• Leafy Spurge
• Milk thistle
• Multiflora rose
• Musk thistle
• Purple Starthistle
• Rabbit brush
• Russian knapweed
• Russian Thistle (Tumbleweed, Salsola kali, Salsola tragus)
• Sow thistle
• Spotted knapweed
• Wild Rose
• Willow
• Wormwood sage
• Yarrow
• Yellow mustard
• Yucca (leaves and blossoms)

This is a list that I add to periodically as I gather information for projects and speaking engagements.

• Buttercup - Ranunculus spp.
• Gorse (Ulex europaeus)
• Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum)
• Oxeye Daisy
• Scentless Chamomile/Scentless False May Weed (Anthemis arvensis, Tripleurospermum perforatum (Merat) or Matricaria perforata)
• Sulfer Cinquefoil
• Yellow Starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis)

What About Goats and Sheep?

The information listed here for cows works for goats and sheep too, particularly with proper training. Keep in mind that results will be different with different animals. Smaller mouths and hoofs change how and how much of some plants an animal can eat.

Your palatability expert says, nutrients increase palatability, while toxins decrease them.