Whether the type of nutrition of farm cows can affect the regulation in their epigenome?

[Bobyrob]

Hello.

I would like to study epigenetic regulations in the reproductive system of cows. I have already done the initial research and would like to continue it in a larger grant project. However, I met with some accusations about the sense of doing such research. In my research I use reproductive system tissues obtained from the local slaughterhouse. Breeding and synchronizing a large number of cows for such studies would be very expensive. We also don't have any facilities for this. Recently, someone suggested to me that taking material from the slaughterhouse when I do not know the nutritional history of these animals is pointless. Literature data shows that quality of nutrition affects the epigenome and this can affect the research results. Therefore, whether the epigenetic research on slaughterhouse material make any sense. Cattle are fed with standard feeding stuffs. I do not know if such mixtures drastically differ from each other to affect epigenome. So please advise whether the feeding of farm cows can drastically affect epigenetic regulations in the animal's body and reproductive system that this exclude the use of slaughterhouse material for such epigenetic research ?