A total of 320 cows and 38 bison on six Madison County ranches are the latest recruits in the war on weeds in Montana. They were trained to eat Canada thistle as part of the “We’d Eat It!” project sponsored and coordinated by the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group’s Weed Committee and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The trained cows are now grazing their pastures in search of that noxious weed.

“We are always looking for more cost effective tools for managing noxious weeds,” said Melissa Griffiths, project coordinator. “As prices for fuel and chemicals continue to increase, it makes sense for us to solve our weed problems by turning all our cattle into weed managers.”

“It was easy and fun,” said Brett Owens, of Owens Ranch in McAllister, of the training. His herd of twenty-one also learned to eat musk thistle and spotted knapweed.

Submitted Cows eating thistle in Madison County.

Alder rancher Steve Wood noted that the steers that simply pastured next to his “trained” heifers also started eating Canada thistle. He said, “Even if they don’t eat it all, they’re eating 200 percent more than they did. I’m tickled.”

Craig Woodson sees potential profit in his small herd of Canada thistle eating heifers. “It’s possible we could rent them out to neighbors who have weed problems on small properties but have no cows of their own,” he said.

This isn’t the first time cattle in Montana have been turned into weed managers, but it is the first time it’s been done on such a large scale or with bison. Kathy Voth of Livestock for Landscapes developed the steps to train cows to eat Canada thistle, leafy spurge and spotted knapweed in a pilot project at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge in 2004.

Now Voth can train cows to start eating weeds in a matter of days by introducing unfamiliar nutritious foods, and by day five, adding the selected weed. She has trained cows in Montana, California and Colorado to include a variety of thistles, knapweeds and mustards in their diet.

“For less than $200 in materials and 10 to 12 hours of my time, I can teach about 50 cows to eat a new weed, and they will teach their calves and they’ll teach their herd mates, and at that point we have a whole weed eating army going out there,” said Voth.

Most weeds are actually high in nutritional value and Voth has found that cows gain weight at normal to better than expected rates while grazing weeds in pasture. “We are truly excited by the results of this project and will incorporate the technique as part of our Conservation Planning efforts throughout Madison County,” Marni Thompson, the local District Conservationist for NRCS in Sheridan, said.

This year’s project was funded in part through a Conservation Innovation Grant from the NRCS. “NRCS was an invaluable partner on this project, providing local leadership as well as technical and field assistance. We’re looking at additional funding opportunities as a way of adding more ranches and a monitoring component to the project next year,” said Griffiths.

The Madison Valley Ranchlands Group’s Weed Committee was formed in 1999 to address invasive plant concerns in the Madison Valley. They work to promote noxious weed awareness and education through a variety of projects and partnerships. The committee also facilitates on the ground projects by working collaboratively with private individuals, organizations and agencies.