- Location
- South Molton
I can't see any docks only deep rooting herbs bringing up valuable trace elements from below.
Dock challenge
- Thread starter Daddy Pig
- Start date
JMTHORNLEY
Member
- Location
- Glossop
I see the same thing, easy to mix up as they do look the same. I've a load to plant this year if I can actually get the tractor on the ground
We've got leys that are nearly all chicory in places. It drives the neighbours nuts!
They do hide the docks quite well sometimes.
ollie989898
Member
Docks are a valuable source of oxalic acid.
They are high in minerals and can mine them from very deep, if you can control them than they can use used as a way of pulling minerals and nutrients from deeper to the soil to the surface, I've chased dock roots about 6' deep before.
I find cows will eat them if kept tight enough and calves will pick them in preference (higher scratch factor?)
I'm not sure I would like a field like in the OP though...
ollie989898
Member
Cows will eat anything. The mouldiest skankiest silage or drink from pool in chicken muck. It doesnt mean anything.
Never any dock leafs left in the bottom of a ring feeder, only the stems
I'm not sure I agree with you on that. Cows pick at things preferentially depending on what they require, browsing hedges at certain times of year, even if they have a field of 'perfect' grass.
Calves for example, will go into a thick crop and pick all the seedheads off the grass before anything else.
People seem to have lost the idea of seeing what the animals are doing and reacting to it.
ollie989898
Member
Cows dont have a fudging clue what they need. They just are naturally curious and will eat anything. How the hell would they know what they were lacking? Do you change your diet because you know you are short of iron or selenium?
How does that explain cows eating soil or licking stone when they are short of minerals?
Its well known deep rooted plants contain more minerals. why buy expensive minerals when there are ways to do it simpler and cheaper? I suppose the supply industry might not like it though.
No but when im shearing in hot weather i always really crave crisps. I assume this is because ive sweated out all my salt
ollie989898
Member
Minerals are dirt cheap.
Furthermore the availability of trace elements in soil and foliage is hugely complex due to the interactions between them. If you think I would suggest someone stopped supplimenting their cattle with copper and turned them out into a load of docks instead you have me down wrong completely.
Weare Cham
Member
- Location
- N. Devon
Yeah, they are just a mini walking anaerobic digester plant. [emoji202]
Slippery Slope
Member
I think you are way off the mark here ollie, cows have an amazing skill of knowing EXACTLY what they need. We offer free access to minerals and iodised salt and the amount they will take can vary widely year on year inline with forage quality.
ollie989898
Member
Cows consume salt and sugar like sweets. They do not have a clue about their own mineral balance.
Slippery Slope
Member
Don't think so. If there's no minerals / salt available they'll lick their own urine off the floor. Not because they want to lick pi## but because their instinct tells them that they are lacking something. Same goes for picking things out of the hedge or weeds out of the field.
- Location
- southern riverina Australia
Really
. Different times of the year ours lick the dirt on the checkbanks between irrigation bays. They've got the entire bay (5ac) to lick if that's all they wanted to do. Why do they lick the banks........because there's a 3 plain gal wire fence on each bank. And the cows are licking the zinc that has leached off the wire.
Ollie is both right and wrong.
The cows don’t ‘know’ they have a deficiency because they don’t know the periodic table. They will of course be attracted to salts, water, sugars and proteins as required. If they are dehydrated, they don’t ‘know’ about H2O but will still seek it. It’s not mystical but driven by the hormone ADH.
The term ‘pica’ means depraved appetite but commonly refers to the licking/chewing of bones in drought conditions where phosphorous is the most limiting element. Side effect is botulism for the poor creatures. So they don’t ‘know’ what they are doing but instinctively ‘do’ at the same time.
Self preservation via evolution is a wonderful thing.
The cows don’t ‘know’ they have a deficiency because they don’t know the periodic table. They will of course be attracted to salts, water, sugars and proteins as required. If they are dehydrated, they don’t ‘know’ about H2O but will still seek it. It’s not mystical but driven by the hormone ADH.
The term ‘pica’ means depraved appetite but commonly refers to the licking/chewing of bones in drought conditions where phosphorous is the most limiting element. Side effect is botulism for the poor creatures. So they don’t ‘know’ what they are doing but instinctively ‘do’ at the same time.
Self preservation via evolution is a wonderful thing.
- Location
- Kent
It made my dad cry when he grew some chicory years ago as seeing the field my granddad went straight back to the yard and sprayed it all off before lecturing him about growing so many docksWe've got leys that are nearly all chicory in places. It drives the neighbours nuts!
They do hide the docks quite well sometimes.