Cows have Super Powers 1

They make grass grow.

This might sound unlikely but the evidence suggests this is true [1].

Thiamine, vitamin B1, in cow’s saliva stimulates grass to grow 79% more quickly than if it were mown by a machine.

We’ve come to think of plants and animals as being separate, but it makes sense that their lives are intertwined. They evolved together after all. If grass is/was always grazed, then it makes sense to outsource this growth catalyst to the animals that graze it rather than the individual grasses. Nature is not only clever and a systems thinker, but also very efficient!

As humans, we like to think that we have a reasonable understanding of how most things work, but my time on the farm has made me question that. There seems to be a lot we don’t know. I sometimes wonder whether we even know enough to ask the right questions ...

[1] Reardon, P O & Merril, L B: Proc. Int. Rangeland Cong. 1; 396-397

Note added 17/1/22: Here is a link to Reardon P O’s dissertation abstract titled ‘The Growth Response of Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr.) to thiamine and bovine saliva’.