Manure Observations of the manure can give a qualitative index of what type of diet the cows consumed and to what extent and where they digested it. Samples should be collected from several different cow pies in a group. Good or bad, manure from cows fed the same diet should look similar, if they are all eating the same diet. Sorting of feed, and perhaps going on and off feed as can happen with ruminal acidosis, results in great variation in the appearance of manure in the same group. The microbial protein produced is not absorbed, but passes out with the manure.
Gas produced from hindgut fermentation can appear as bubbles in the manure.
The organic acids can be absorbed by the gut. However, a major difference between the hindgut and the rumen is the potential for the fermentation to be buffered. Where rumination and mixing with saliva provide buffers to reduce the extent of pH decline in the rumen, no system of that magnitude exists for the hindgut. When a great deal of fermentable carbohydrate reaches the hindgut, its fermentation to organic acids can result in injury to the gut. The increased acidity and action of the organic acids on the cells of the large intestine can result in a sloughing of the surface cells, or epithelium.