Keeping Horses with Cows

Keeping horses with cows

Keeping horses (equines) housed with cows is a practice that has gone on for many, many years…most of the time successfully.

There are some things to consider.

Horses are not meant to be eating corn. It’s bad for their metabolic system, bad for their feet, and hard on their digestive system. Cows are very often fed a corn based grain, though it may not be the best for them either.

Monensin is a medication that is sometimes added to cattle feed. Monensin will flat out kill your horse (or donkey). Most of the time an equid who eats monensin will be dead in 3 days, though sometimes it can take up to 2 weeks.

Silage is good for cows, who process it through their 4 stomachs, but it is terrible for horses. It can colic them, and also often leads to laminitis.

The cattle tubs are balanced for cows, not horses. They can be high in iron. Consuming cattle tubs will often completely throw your horse’s body completely out of balance. Many contain very high protein and molasses, and depending on the brand, other ratios/things not suited to horses as well.

You should be very careful switching a horse to a prior cattle pasture. Monensin is often mixed with distiller’s syrup and poured on the ground. It takes a long time to disappear and the syrup is very enticing to a horse.

Running cattle and horses together can be done successfully but there are definitely things to consider before implementing the mix of the two.