Reading Dung — Colour, Consistency and What They Say

Every cow writes a report on her digestion several times a day and leaves it on the floor. Farmers who read it catch feeding mistakes and the start of illness days before anything else shows.

The healthy pat

A normal pat from a cow on a balanced ration is medium brown, lands with a soft plop into a stack of a few rings, is about as thick as porridge, and has no visible grain, no long fibre and no froth. The smell is earthy, not sour or foul. Dung that looks like this says the rumen is working.

What the variations mean

Loose and watery — too much lush green, a sudden feed change, excess molasses or grain, worms, or infection. If the animal is bright and it clears in a day, it was the feed. If it continues, has blood or a foul smell, or the animal is dull, call the vet.

Stiff, dry, in balls — too little water, straw-only diet, impaction starting, or the first sign of a fever. Check the water first.

Bubbly, frothy, sour-smelling — acidosis: too much grain, flour or molasses hitting the rumen fast. Cut the concentrate, add fibre, and see our guide on rumen acidosis.

Whole grain or long fibre visible — the feed is not being digested: grain fed whole, fodder cut too long, or the rumen moving too fast. Crack the grain and chaff the fodder.

Very pale or clay-coloured — liver trouble or a very heavy milk diet in calves; worth the vet's opinion.

Dark, tarry, or with fresh blood — bleeding in the gut: coccidiosis in calves, acorn poisoning, salmonella, severe worms. Same-day vet call.

Grey, greasy, shining — too much oil, from rice bran or cake. Reduce it.

Mucus-coated — gut irritation; watch for a day, vet if it continues.

Make it a habit

Look at the floor at the morning feed. A change in one animal's dung is the earliest warning you will get, and a change in the whole shed's dung on the same day points straight at yesterday's feed. Steady feeding — the same fodder, the same compound feed at the calculated quantity, changes made over a week — gives steady dung, and steady dung means a rumen that is making milk instead of trouble.