On Sat, 18 Sep 1999, Don Wiss wrote:

> Todd Moody wrote:
>
> >I still maintain that gluten is a normal part of a cow's diet,
> >because gluten is in grass seeds, which are part of the grass
> >that is the cow's normal diet.
>
> As far as I know there is no gluten in grass seeds, but only in wheat, rye
> and barley. All of them are much taller plants than regular prairie grass.
> Do cows eat grasses that are that tall?

Wheat, rye, and barley *are* grasses.  A cow is not limited to
one particular type of grass.  Grasslands support grasses of many
types, and grasslands are precisely the sort of place where
grass-eaters such as cows can make a good living.  Wheat grass is
tall, but not so tall as to prevent a cow from eating it.

> Then you have the question of where cows are from, before humans
> domesticated them. Possible not in an area where wheat, rye or barley grow.

Again, cows -- or their predecessors the Aurochs -- are grassland
herbivores.  That is their ecological niche.  Wheat, rye, and
barley grown where other grasses grow: in grasslands.  Cows have
a lengthy digestive tract, including several stomachs, to process
this vegetation.  Unless there is specific evidence suggesting
that cows have a problem digesting gluten, I see no reason to
suspect such a thing.

Todd Moody
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