Description

Feed is the greatest input cost for cattle producers. The studies summarized here employed non-bloating, tannin-containing irrigated perennial legume pastures or hay of legumes or a hydrolysable tannin-containing forb that were grown in the Mountain West USA, with non-tannin legume, grass, or feedlot treatments for comparison. Cattle grazing legume pastures or fed legume or forb hays had greater intake, gain and nitrogen retention, and in some cases, reduced enteric methane emissions compared with grass pastures or hay, and methane emissions were not different from feedlot-fed cattle.

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Tannins in Perennial Legume and Forb Functional Forages

Feed is the greatest input cost for cattle producers. The studies summarized here employed non-bloating, tannin-containing irrigated perennial legume pastures or hay of legumes or a hydrolysable tannin-containing forb that were grown in the Mountain West USA, with non-tannin legume, grass, or feedlot treatments for comparison. Cattle grazing legume pastures or fed legume or forb hays had greater intake, gain and nitrogen retention, and in some cases, reduced enteric methane emissions compared with grass pastures or hay, and methane emissions were not different from feedlot-fed cattle.