Moo Cow's effect on game

"...Reportedly excellent meat..." Absolutely. Tastes just like very expensive beef.
"...I hate cows. But I hate the cattlemen even more..." Sod buster! snicker. It ain't cows what you eat.
Cows become just another animal in the habitat to an elk. No threat. No concern. Ignore 'em. Especially if there's a bunch of She Elk around.
 
I have two separate families in my nieghborhood who are ranchers. I have heard both of them use the term moo cow, but use cattle or cows more frequently. Just sayin'
 
I started first-hand watching the moo-cow :) bidness some 75 years ago. Never have seen all these damages, our ranch or others. But could be worse, if we still had the old days buffalo numbers.

Cows graze. Deer browse. No competition for food. Dunno 'bout elk.

By the way, the reason for using "moo cow" has been quite adequately explained. Faggeddaboutit. :D
 
Around here, the deer eat right along side the cows. Many of the monster bucks are shot in the cow pasture eating sweet feed. You cant hunt over bait here, but you can hunt over cattle feed. Many food plots have a cow in them and all kinds of things that cattle will eat but deer will eat a whole lot better.:D
 
Moo cow's effect on game

In answer to never heard of cows and buffalo breeding in the wild. I don't know. how the cow and yak got into the act was artificial insemination.
The ideas were to get a beef that could forage on its own with little or no attention. And then they bred with full blood buffalo. I am to lazy to retain everything I come across so I don't know who or how long ago.
It would make sense to replace cattle which give buffalo diseases, run open range, because no one could afford one three strands of inch cable and ten inch posts ten foot high over that much ground.
Just imagine 10000 times the meat, on the hoof, of today's cow herds, not to mention elk.
Ranching would become hunting and limits would have to be set. No feed bills nor vet bills.
Or some such arrangement.
It seems strange to me, maybe because of native blood, to fence in or out the world and only one or two live in or from the land.
White man, crazy.
 
To hunt on his ranch, I had to work separating cows from calves. One big mean cow wanted to kill me. I will never forget her or her yellow ear tag with black letters, "84".
I complained to the rancher. He said he hates her too because she has the snort and so does her miserable calf. To me that sounded like having the schwartz in Spaceballs. Separated cows and calves moo all night. Ask me how I know.
 

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Cows graze. Deer browse. No competition for food.
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I wonder then what all this "crop damage" done by deer, claimed by farmers is all about. Many farmers around here get nuisance permits because of deer eating their corn/soybeans/alfalfa intended for their cattle. On top of this, they get paid for the damage after the tags are filled. I wonder what all those deer I see out with the cattle put out to feed on left overs in picked/chopped corn fields are eating, if not the same corn? Ever hear of "acorn poisoning" in cattle? One reason many farmers don't allow cattle to pasture in the woods anymore. Like deer, cattle will gorge themselves on the fruit, and I have personally watched cattle run deer off from acorns that drop in pastures from overhanging trees on the fence-line. I was also under the understanding that one reason wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone was because of the competition on neighboring range-land between elk and cattle for the available graze. If there was no competition for food, and since cattle do not need cover, why would one ever see the two in the same area other than a rare coincidence once in a while......especially if the presence of cattle spooked deer? Whether you want to call them "moo-moos", "moo-cows" or cattle, members of the deer family(at least here in America) do not fear them and will readily feed alongside them.
 
Cows are very curious when they meet strangers in a cow field --- at times --- they can become aggressive; not too mention bull cattle.

Wild turkeys love dung beetles that are hidden under cow pies.
 
Cows graze. Deer browse. No competition for food. Dunno 'bout elk.
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Not completely true. I have watched Michigan White Tail Deer grazing on my property. They are prone to feeding on a variety of sources...apples (and ripe Tart Cherries) from my trees, grasses, Winter Green berries and leaves, browsing on my young ornamental and fruit trees (even when grasses are available). They are however, almost exclusively browsers during the time when the ground is covered with snow, giving them less choice. I hard Winters, I have observed that volunteer apple trees will have the bark completely stripped...from ground to top of the snow by mice, from the top of the snow up to about a foot high from the rabbits and from a foot or so high up to as high as a deer can reach by standing on trier back legs. In short, deer (White Tails), will exploit many food sources, not just browse.
 
Moo cows effect on game

At Ft Custer cemetery, the deer listen for the gun salutes. Right after everyone leaves they come out of the woods and eat all of the flowers.
 
The primary diet of horses, sheep and cattle is grass. The primary diet of goats and deer is herbs and forbs. These diets are not exclusive of other "yummies", depending on season and availability.
 

Don't know if this is relevant, but yesterday I watched this steer with a hog that was like his best buddy. I stopped and watched them for quite a while and the steer would even reach down and lick the pig occasionally and the pig followed it around, even getting under it and between it's legs. The pig was wagging it's tail like a dog part of the time. Seemed strange to me.....
 
Not uncommon at all to see whitetails in the fenced pastures of Ohio. They don't associate with each other and maintain their distance from one another which isn't much. Once used a cow for cover to cross an open space when deer hunting. :D
 
Where I hunt, the elk don't like the cattle.
I've never seen deer with cattle, but i hear they tolerate them more.
 
The primary diet of horses, sheep and cattle is grass. The primary diet of goats and deer is herbs and forbs.
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Around here, the primary diet of dairy cattle is alfalfa. Alfalfa (Sativa) is generally described as a perennial forb. Most pastures for beef cattle around here include a good percentage of clover.....again a forb. Sheep prefer clover over grass. Clover is also a desirable feed source for horses. Biggest consumption of grasses around here for horses and cattle is their seeds......corn and oats. In the winter, the primary food for deer(other than corn and alfalfa dug out from under the snow) is tree buds....preferably poplar. Poplar is considered a "woody" plant. In other areas of the country, this may not be the case, but this is Wisconsin, selected by "North American Whitetail" as the #2 state(Kansas was #1) in the nation to hunt deer. We also are known as "America's Dairyland", meaning we have cows everywhere. We see deer and cows feeding side by side all the time, competing for the same desirable foods. There is no "effect", just an indifference between them.
 
Deer can be devastating on crops. They will chew a fresh planting of apple trees all the way to the ground. Thats why we put up so many deer fences.
 
My generalizations refer to natural and original vegetation, not items introduced by humans. :)

I know from direct observation that deer will eat cigarettes. :D Young marijuana plants, also, as reported by one POed young would-be grower. Deer like cookie crumbs and also the gravy from big-brother stew. (Raising a pet fawn teaches all manner of new knowledge.)
 
Thats basically my observations Art. Deer seem to have a serious sweet tooth. Amongst some other strange habits haha. Dogs also enjoy cigarettes, atleast my moms dog does. Mostly Marlboro Reds.
 
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