Why the diffenence in consistency of poop of cows and horses?

Answer 1

Poop, or feces, is different in different animals because they eat different things and have different digestive systems. In general, animals that mostly or all plant material have more feces than animals that eat other animals.

Cows that eat grass often have runny poop, not quite like diarrhea which is very watery, but more solidified. This is because the grass they eat is more easier for them to digest and utilize than other feeds such as unprocessed grain, which passes through the cow almost whole. Grass contains high levels of protein, which is why their poop is more runnier and makes "patties." Other feeds that have less protein make the poop more solid, almost similar to horse poop. However the runnier feces is easy for insects and microbes to break down, thus making it a good fertilizer.

Horses eat grass as well, but do not have the same digestive system. Since cows are ruminants and have four compartments in their stomach, forage is more efficiently digested than horses. Horses are hind-gut fermentors, in other words they digest their feed in their large cecum (synonomous to human's appendixes). Horses are less efficient at converting feed, though are better at retaining water in their feces than cows or other ruminants. Their poop is large and round, with more grass-material found in their feces than cows, and are often referred to by horse-folk as "road apples." They are often found in heaping piles, and are also great manure to be used as fertilizer.

Deer tend to have smaller and more compact feces, small and round and drier than cows and horses. Deer are ruminants, but are more select grazers than cows, which are "coarse graziers", which simply means they graze on grass more than they browse. Deer tend to browse lots, however they do graze too, but are much more picky about what they eat than cows. The reason they browse explains why their poop is more compact and smaller, much like goats or sheep. Deer make piles too, but not as prominant as horses or cows make them.

Knowing the different kinds of feces, or "scat" is one way to tell what kind of animals have been in a certain area.

Answer 2

Cow poop has a much runnier consistency. It would be like pouring a bowl of pudding onto the ground. Horse poo is not runny and comes out in round clumps. They also have very different smells, I can't describe it you have to smell it for yourself.