So in this video a cow eats a baby chicken. Have any farm dwellers seen this b4?

[Spirit Bear]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9f0_1174861485

[edmon171]

I guess if its shorter than the grass and doesn't run away its fair game. Cows don't actually digest plants, they store bacteria that eat the grass, then they digest the huge bacterial loads, which is just like digesting meat. This was probably a learned behavior from watching the herding dogs.

[Projectile Vomit]

I haven't seen it first hand, but it's easy to find references to grazing animals (cows, horses, deer, elk, caribou, moose, etc.) eating small animals, especially baby birds and less frequently live fish. Our notions that these animals are obligate herbivores is false; very few animals follow any extreme diet, with perhaps the exception of giant pandas that only eat bamboo and koalas that only eat eucalyptus leaves.

[Spirit Bear]

It's hard to tell for sure from the video, but like you say the cow may have seen other animals eating chicks or may have been egged on a bit.

Has anyone who's lived with cows seen them seeking out grubs or eating meat opportunistically?

[CatTreats]

Maybe it's just me, but we thought the cow looked a bit skinny. It almost seemed desperate to just eat something - though I don't see why the grass wasn't appealing. The quality is a little poor, but maybe the grass was dry and unappealing.

[cherimoya_kid]

I figure the cow was starving.

[goodsamaritan]

The chick was tied down.