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Why is my cow eating iron? What should I do about this behavior?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Other | Unknown - Other | Female

My cow eats iron. It always looks for iron and only iron. What's the problem? :(

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Chad Brown, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 15th, 2018

hello and thank you very much for your question. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a good answer as to why your cow seeks out iron. Maybe it’s because they are deficient, they like the taste of it, or something else completely different. My best advice is to have a local veterinarian or agricultural extension agent come to your farm and perform a soil and hay analysis. this analysis will tell you whether the food you were feeding in the ground or in the hell he has sufficient minerals and vitamins so that you do not have to supplement.

Thanks a lot for your question. I hope I’ve given you some help today.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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