cow eats money and poops it

jaus tail

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i saw this in a tv show and was wondering whether this is a possible.

a cow eats lots of money that was placed in the barn. then the villagers give the cow some laxative. the cow poops. the villagers wash and dry the money.

is this possible? wouldnt the cow's digestive enzymes ruin the money?
 

Helix

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If the money were coins, there'd be no change*.

Paper money would be destroyed because of the digestive process of ruminants.

I'm not sure how polymer notes would go.

*Arf! Arf!
 

Captcha

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If the cow had ENOUGH laxatives would the notes move through her system fast enough to not be digested?

(I know, cows are good digesters. I'm just trying to think if there's ANY way for it work...)
 

Thewitt

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US paper money is 75% cotton fiber and 25% linen fiber.

Linen is made from flax.

Though both are plants, and both cottonseed and flax seed can be digested by cows, the fiber is not readily digested.
 

EMaree

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Depends entirely on what the money's made of, really. So I guess the first thing you need to decide on is the nationality of your heifer. :)
 

Helix

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I would ask what flax is made of, but it's not really worth the effort.

Anyway, since a cow is a cud-chewer, anything chewable that goes in one end is going to be in a mess by the time it comes out of the other.
 

EMaree

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I haven't ever handled a polymer note, so I'm curious -- would a cow actually be able to chew it up? I see them called 'almost impossible to tear' a lot, which makes me think they'd be a difficult task even for a determined moo-er.
 

Helix

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I've got some polymer notes here, but I'm not game to try nibbling at them. Not even for AW! They're tough, but I don't think they're indestructible.
 

King Neptune

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Both cotton and flax are cellulose like sawdust and wood pulp. The laxative would have to be strong and quickly administered.
 

ArtsyAmy

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Not sure if the money would be okay, but I'm doubting it would be. As Captcha said, cows are good digesters. I have a horse and a former bull--now an ox. I can say that equine poo and bovine poo are quite different in that one can look at horse poo and tell what the horse has eaten. If Ace, the horse, has eaten grass, there's grass in what he leaves behind. On the other hand, that which Lewis, the ox named after C.S., leaves behind provides no indication of what he's eaten. My guess is that even if the bits of fibers couldn't be fully digested, the money would have gotten all torn up after getting wet inside the animal and chewed and chewed and chewed. I haven't used laxatives with either horse or ox--not sure if that would allow the money to pass through okay. I guess if it were possible for the money to be okay, the laxative would have to be given almost at the same time that the bovine ate the cash. Just guessing...
 

Tazlima

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If Ace, the horse, has eaten grass, there's grass in what he leaves behind. On the other hand, that which Lewis, the ox named after C.S., leaves behind provides no indication of what he's eaten. My guess is that even if the bits of fibers couldn't be fully digested, the money would have gotten all torn up after getting wet inside the animal and chewed and chewed and chewed.

This.

Cows chew cud, which basically involves barfing up mouthfuls of partially-digested food and chewing it a second time to aid in digestion. It's my (very far from expert) understanding that food has to reach a certain point in this process before it will continue on to the next portion of the digestive process.

I don't know if giving a cow a laxative would force the food past this part of their digestion (like drinking water to swallow a pill), or if it would simply empty the latter part of their digestive tract where the food was already broken down.

What about giving the cow an emitic? They seem kind of designed for puking anyway and the money wouldn't be nearly as damaged.
 

jaus tail

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thanks. but it was fun to watch that scene when they were giving the cow laxative.
 

Chris P

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I dunno about the "good digesters" part. The cow poop I've scooped up was still pretty green with recognizable bits of grass, although pretty well pulverized to goo. Cotton and flax fibers are both cellulose, btw. Paper from wood contains a lot more lignin in addition to cellulose than linen or cotton does, with cotton having even less lignin than linen does.

Now, I do know what happens to US paper money when it goes through a chocolate lab (that dog could and would eat anything!). It comes out very discolored and stiff, but more or less intact. Just in case you need to know, wait until after the bank clerk exchanges it for fresh bills to tell her what happened to it.
 
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Thewitt

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When a ruminant chews cud, it comes up from the first stomach. Items that the body decides cannot be digested move more quickly through the digestive system, and yes can come out nearly intact. Spend any time on a working farm - not a bug commercial farm where feed is always controlled, but a small family farm where pastures are multi-use and animals eat many things they probably shouldn't and you will see this.

It's perfectly plausible that linen based money will pass through a cow relatively intact.
 

mccardey

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I haven't ever handled a polymer note, so I'm curious -- would a cow actually be able to chew it up?

A polymer cow could chew it.

ETA: Ok. Someone who quite clearly needs to remain anonymous (it was Helix) just repped me with the comment that a polymoo cow could chew it.

So - moooving on...

ETA 2: Helix started it.
 
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Bolero

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When a ruminant chews cud, it comes up from the first stomach. Items that the body decides cannot be digested move more quickly through the digestive system, and yes can come out nearly intact. Spend any time on a working farm - not a bug commercial farm where feed is always controlled, but a small family farm where pastures are multi-use and animals eat many things they probably shouldn't and you will see this.

It's perfectly plausible that linen based money will pass through a cow relatively intact.

OK - and doing a partial U turn - I'm convinced on what Thewitt says. But wouldn't that be with occasional items?

And having thought about it properly, why would a cow eat a lot of money in the first place? So one bill, a few bills, mixed in with feed, coated with molasses - that might go down and be in with the general tummy slurry. But the quantities of money the OP is talking about - would the cow eat that much?
If the cow has eaten lots of stuff it can't digest, does the send it on through/send it up for chewing system cope with mostly send it through?

Though having said that I just remembered this story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3614022.stm

Canvas can be linen and cotton. The aircraft bits clearly had something tasty on them. However, just because the cows bit off all the canvas, there is a chance they didn't swallow just wandered off and dropped it. No information on whether the canvas showed up in the poop.

And then I watched the video with the model airplane that also came up in the search

http://fpvcentral.net/2013/11/cow-eats-fpv-plane/

You can see a cow chewing on a bit with wires hanging out of it, but otherwise largely licking. I think they were youngsters - not sure. Do remember a neighbour saying that a calf will eat anything until it knows better and he has to make sure there are no bits of baler twine in the field for example as that can cause problems for the calf it it eats it - goes in part way and gets stuck.

OP - you might want to do searches on laxatives on cows and the like. Am wondering whether you'd give laxative of the prune variety or paraffin oil as you give to cats to help them pass a hairball.
 
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Helix

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Well, I've got three US dollar bills in my foreign money bag, which I could test feed to droughtmasters, but it's hot and the buggers are on the other side of the paddock, so it'll have to wait for another day.

I'd be surprised if any of it survived the spit, molars and big sloppy cow tongue.
 

mccardey

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And having thought about it properly, why would a cow eat a lot of money in the first place?

A goat would eat them. Because - goat. We used to keep goats. Goats eat anything.

That was pre-polymer, though. You should find a goat and test that hypothesis before you use it, OP.
 

Thewitt

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Well, I've got three US dollar bills in my foreign money bag, which I could test feed to droughtmasters, but it's hot and the buggers are on the other side of the paddock, so it'll have to wait for another day.

I'd be surprised if any of it survived the spit, molars and big sloppy cow tongue.

If I still lived on the farm I would definitely test this one... assuming you can keep them locked up until they pass the money... I don't think I'd want to wander over 20 acres looking for the right cow pie...
 

cornflake

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A goat would eat them. Because - goat. We used to keep goats. Goats eat anything.

That was pre-polymer, though. You should find a goat and test that hypothesis before you use it, OP.

I think ducks eat most anything too.

:gone: