Category: Forage Corner

Humans may make do with one stomach, but not everyone takes the same approach to digestion. Consider this: The ruminant digestive system features a stomach with four compartments. What exactly is a ruminant? How does their digestive system work? What can you do to protect the health of a ruminant’s digestive system?

Identifying Ruminants

As Mississippi State University Extension explains, a ruminant is a cud-chewing hoofed mammal with a unique digestive system that includes a stomach with four parts.

This complex system lets it generate energy more efficiently from the consumption of fibrous plants when compared to herbivores with monogastric digestive systems. In other words, it gives these animals a very real edge by allowing them to thrive on foods that other animals would find lacking. Cattle, sheep, goats, deer, elk, giraffes, bison, and antelope are all ruminants.

Breaking Down the Ruminant’s Digestive System

Understanding the basics of how a ruminant’s digestive system works can help you keep the animals in your care healthy and productive. The University of Minnesota Extension offers plenty of useful information about the ins and outs of the ruminant digestive system .

The Mouth

While the star of the ruminant’s digestive system is the four-part stomach, the process actually gets its start in the mouth. Chewing stimulates saliva production, and a ruminant’s saliva plays a key role in the digestive process. For starters, it contains enzymes that help to break down fats and starches.

In addition, saliva serves as a buffer in parts of the stomach. The saliva mixes with the plant matter and makes its way down the esophagus when the animal swallows.

The Esophagus

Muscle contractions move food through a ruminant’s esophagus, and bidirectionality is the feature of interest here. The muscles of the esophagus can move food either down from the mouth or up the same channel from the stomach.

The Stomach

If the ruminant digestive system has a distinguishing feature, it’s clearly the stomach. As Purdue University explains this complex organ has four parts:

The rumen

The first part of the stomach, the rumen is also the largest compartment. It can store up to 50 gallons of material. However, it’s not just about storage. The rumen is designed to hold onto hard-to-digest foods like the nitrogen in grass and break them down via fermentation and high concentrations of bacteria often dubbed “rumen bugs.” If roughage is proving especially difficult, the rumen extends its digestion time by encouraging further mechanical breakdown. Using the bidirectionality of the esophagus, already swallowed food, or cud, is sent back to the mouth to be re-chewed for a while. Then, it’s re-swallowed and redigested. Have you ever wondered why ruminants belch? It’s to clear the gas produced by the fermentation that is part of their digestion.

The reticulum

Often called the honeycomb because of its appearance, these bands of muscle guard against the intrusion of any large particles that have slipped past the rumen that need to be broken down more before they go deeper into the stomach. If it discovers them, it forces them back up so that they can be chewed again. Unfortunately, cows and other ruminants aren’t always picky eaters. What happens when they ingest hardware like nails or baling wire? It tends to end up in the reticulum. In some cases, surgery may be required to save the animal. Otherwise, sharp hardware could pierce the stomach.

The omasum

The third section of the stomach is comprised of folds of muscles called plies. The multitude of layers increases the surface area, which gives the omasum more opportunities to absorb nutrients as it squeezes waters from feed particles and breaks them down into smaller and smaller particles.

The abomasum

Known as the true stomach because it’s most like a monogastric animal’s stomach, the abomasum is where acids and digestive juices mingle with the food particles. From here, food moves to the small intestine.

The Small Intestine

The small intestine isn’t exactly small. It measures about twenty times the length of the animal and is made up of three parts: the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. Most of the actual nutrient absorption takes place here. Nutrients are collected within the small intestine by the finger-like villi and released into the blood and lymphatic systems.

The Cecum

The cecum is a pouch that sits between the small and large intestines. Its purpose is a mystery, but it helps to break down any fiber that remains undigested.

The Large Intestine

The large intestine absorbs water. Microbes that live here also digest some feed. Then, the organ eliminates any undigested food as waste.

Keeping The Ruminant’s Digestive System Healthy

Keeping a complex system functioning smoothly can be tricky. Pro Earth Animal Health offers a quick overview of some common digestive problems:

• Acidosis – A metabolic disease that can be triggered by stress, illness, and other factors, acidosis causes shifts in the pH of the rumen that prompt the animal to decrease its food and water intake. If action isn’t taken to halt the disease process, the good bacteria in the rumen die off, toxins are released, and the animal’s immune system will continue to weaken. Acidosis can be fatal if the animal isn’t coaxed into eating and drinking.
  
• Rumen impaction – Without enough hydration, indigestible materials can pile up in the rumen. Handlers need to ensure that animals have access to clean water and are drinking sufficient amounts
  
• Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome – There’s no clear cause of HBS, but it tends to be the result of a blood clot or blockage in the small intestine. Taking steps to keep the rumen healthy seems to be the best way to prevent the issue.

Digestive health is an important part of an animal’s overall health. Understanding how the system works can help you make smart decisions about feed and care, including extending your growing season.

In addition, catching signs of digestive distress early makes finding an effective solution easier and more affordable. Be on the lookout for animals that are refusing to eat or drink, suffering from weight loss, lethargy or diarrhea, or are behaving unusually.

Forage is a cornerstone of both beef and dairy production. It’s the most basic and essential fuel for the cow’s growth, health and production. As such, we understand that quality is no small matter when choosing the best forage for cattle.

With feed costs representing anywhere from 60 to 70% of total production inputs according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, better or worse quality could quite literally make or break the business.

While there are many different ways forage can be harvested, stored and fed, its production ultimately begins in the same place – the soil. And when farmed and managed responsibly, forages are not only a great feed for livestock, but they will also provide long-term health and fertility to the soil.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 95% of all our food comes directly from the soil. This includes the fruits and vegetables we eat as well as what is consumed by livestock to create end products.

Cattle are in a unique position because by growing their forages – especially in the case of pastures and hayfields – the soil can be enhanced.

Plants are a lot like solar panels – they take in natural energy from the sun and convert it into nutrients that can be used as a fuel or energy source for the animals consuming it. When a cow eats a mouthful of grass or legumes, her rumen microbes will feed on it creating the fuel that builds muscle, supports growth, and allows for reproduction, milk production and much more.

All forages are very different regarding what nutrients they provide for animals. Not only is feeding suboptimal quality inefficient and not cost-effective, it’s also environmentally unsustainable. Remember, poor forages will use more resources in the growing and feeding compared to high-quality ones. Not to mention the challenges in keeping the ruminant’s digestive system healthy.

What’s In Forage, Anyway?

Deciding on the most appropriate type and variety of forage to feed cattle will depend greatly on region, seasonality and stage in production or lifecycle. Fortunately, there are many ways these can be mixed and matched to provide the most optimal diet for your animals.

The two broad categories forages are broken into are cool season and warm season. These are directly correlated to the time of year they are most prolific.

Cool season varieties are especially important as they play integral roles in fall and winter feeding. While they can be more difficult to maintain and expensive to upkeep, these cool-season types can help cut down on costly winter feedstuffs.

One of the benefits to cold season varieties is that they can be overseeded on top of warm season types to allow for an earlier spring and/or longer summer grazing season.

While there are many nutritious grasses, cool season legumes are especially worth noting. Legumes plants belong to the Fabaceae family. Not only are many of them nutrient-dense, but they also have a special symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria thanks to structures in their roots called nodules. This makes them an integral part of soil health and crop rotation programs.

Some of the most well-known legumes in the cattle world are alfalfa and clover. These grow very well with many other grasses. And, because many legume varieties are quite dense, growing enough of them can help cut down on unwanted weeds while boosting soil integrity.

Discover how to suppress weeds with cover crops in your pasture.

What’s The Most Nutritious Grass For Cattle?

Obtaining the proper nutrition from forages is a pivotal component, but its efficiency and profitability also cannot be overlooked. Harvested and stored options including hay and silage can certainly provide all the nutrition as a pasture can, but there is a serious cost associated with that compared to grazing where animals can “self-harvest.”

There are many variables and factors to this economic outlook, but the difference is significant according to a white paper by Kenny Burdine, an extension economist for the University of Kentucky.

When hay is stored and fed, there is always a loss associated with wastage or damage. Burdine calculated the difference at a 15%, 25% and 35% loss when feeding hay to cattle, each equivalent to the quality of the tonnage.

By his calculations, hay fed at a 15% loss worth $80 a ton cost $1.41 per ton with the assumption each animal consumed 30 lbs. per day. Contrast that to a pasture with a two acres per head stocking density – even with a $50 an acre maintenance cost per year, the cost of feeding would only be $0.42 per day.

Now, when discussing forage value and economics, one must also discuss how well it can be managed and produced in a specific region. Many specific varieties are quite well adapted to certain regions making it a good idea to stick to those that are tried and true. Likewise, growth distribution – meaning how a variety will proliferate after its establishment – need to be considered and how it relates to seasonality.

Other points relevant to the bottom line are quality, yield and persistence as explained by Steve Orloff and Dan Putnam of the University of California-Davis.

Potential use is also something producers should be aware of. For example, some pasture mixes are hardy enough to withstand hoof traffic and prolific enough to be converted to a hayfield and harvested. Other mixes (like alfalfa) are insufficient at withstanding grazing pressure and need to be harvested before feeding.

Quality factors And Detractors

There are a lot of factors at play that can help or hinder forage growth, production and quality. But there is one key overarching player to always be aware of – soil health.

You could say that the health and wealth of any crop, ultimately, begins quite literally at the roots and the soil surrounding them. This is why maintaining and preserving the soil in tandem with forage production is critical.

Soil is quite delicate. The earth only has about 60 years-worth of viable topsoil, according to Maria-Helena Semedo of the UN’s FAO, to support ongoing agricultural efforts without proper care and preservation.

Globally, soils are being degraded far faster than they can be replaced. A 2006 study from Cornell University published in the Journal of the Environment, Development and Sustainability found that, specifically, soils in the United States are degrading at a rate 10 times faster than they are being replaced. In China and India, that rate is about 30 to 40 times faster.

When we consider that, according to the Eniscuola School of Energy and Environment, it takes 200 to 400 years for a single centimeter of topsoil to be formed in most climates, the reality becomes very serious.

Research, such as work done at the University of California-Davis, has found that in addition to harming fertility, poor soil leaves plants more vulnerable to disease and pests while having an overall lower yield.

Using Legumes For Soil Health

Part of preserving soil is understanding it – what makes it healthy or unhealthy? Many forage growers and cattle producers may not know the specific metrics they are looking for.

Only about 10% of all land used to grow forage is soil tested, according to the University of Kentucky. Of that, 45% is low in the essential nutrient phosphorous and 35% is low in the essential nutrient potassium.

And, interestingly, legumes – who are can help recycle nutrients according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service – are only grown in about one-third of the areas they could potentially be grown in.

Additionally, legumes can also enhance soil organic matter, improve soil structure and lower soil pH – much of this is due to the Rhizobia bacteria that live in the nodules of their roots. These bacteria are what allow them to fix their own nitrogen.

Having a significantly different background compared to other forage types, planting legumes can also enhance overall biological diversity which, in turn, can help break harmful pest cycles including diseases, weeds and insects in a crop rotation.

Know Your Resources

The first step to incorporating legumes is to do an annual soil check. After all, planting, harvesting and forage equipment is typically checked at least once a year – soil should be treated no differently! Soil requires management much like anything else in farming. And, of course, you can’t manage what isn’t measured.

An agronomist can help make some recommendations based on specific soil test results, and help accommodate a forage plan to a specific farm. Like so many other things in our agriculture system, one of the best ways to learn is from other farmers who share their own experiences in a similar region and/or livestock management system.

There are also lots of academic resources available to help develop a healthy forage plan. These include your local extension service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, the National Hay Association and the National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance.

Originally Published: ​3/4/18 10:05 a.m.
Updated: 2/24/21 10:44 a.m.

Should you over seed pastures or hayfields with clovers during the winter and early spring months to increase animal performance?

Research across the country strongly suggests renovating pastures does increase animal performance. These grazing studies from across the United States have shown an increase in animal performance when they have been grazed on pastures with ryegrass with clover added to it.

In a 2016 Mississippi State University cattle study, daily live weight gains were recorded on cattle grazing a mixture of Frosty berseem clover and Lonestar annual ryegrass. Frosty extended the grazing period and lowered nitrogen costs by 14%! Cattle grazing the ryegrass + berseem mix gained 0.87 lbs/day more than the straight ryegrass with commercial fertilizer. In the subsequent trial the grass following the Frosty plots showed an increase in growth and quality.

Four Ways Clovers Benefit Pastures And Hay Fields

Increase Yield

It’s cheap, quick and low risk, helps suppress weeds, and prevents soil erosion.Research has shown that tall fescue and orchardgrass over seeded with clovers to renovate pastures, will produce more forage than a pure tall fescue or orchardgrass pasture fertilized with 60 pounds of nitrogen per acre.

Improve Animal Performance

Research has shown that clovers improve animal gains and conception rates. High quality feed is important for a calf to gain well and for a cow to rebreed after calving. Clovers are more digestible and contain more nutrients than grasses. Their presence in a pasture improves the palatability of the forage, which will increase the amount and quality of the forage the animal consumes.

Nitrogen Fixation

Nitrogen fixation is another characteristic that makes legumes a desirable component of a pasture or hayfield. Not only is the nitrogen available to the legume, but the surrounding grass plants can use this nitrogen when the annual clovers die out. Annual legumes such as Frosty berseem, Fixation balansa, and Kentucky Pride crimson clover can produce approximately 150 to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre each year. If nitrogen costs 25 cents per pound, this would be a savings of $37.50 to $50.00 per acre each year.

Extend Grazing Season

Most of the growth from cool-season grasses such as tall fescue and orchardgrass occurs during the spring and fall. During the summer, high temperatures and drought cause these grasses to slow or stop producing.

Legumes such as white clover and annual clovers (AberLasting, Frosty, Fixation, and Kentucky Pride) can extend the grazing season and provide high quality pasture that is missing during the summer forage slump in tall fescue or orchardgrass pastures.

Clover is a valuable addition to any pasture or hay mix. Being in the legume family, they supply lots of high quality protein, relative feed value, and other nutrients and they’re very palatable, too.

Not All Clovers Are Created Equal

White, red, berseem, balansa and crimson clovers are safe additions to any pasture or hayfield, but the closely related alsike clover (pictured below) has been connected to health problems in livestock.

One problem linked to alsike clover is photosensitization. Livestock that ingest alsike clover in the summer months and are exposed to sunlight, can develop red, blistered muzzles and sun burned skin, especially if they have white markings with pink skin underneath their fur.

Early symptoms may include drooling and reluctance to eat, and swelling of the affected animal’s tongue or muzzle. Alsike poisoning can affect cattle, swine, and sheep, but is particularly brutal for horses.

How To Overseed Your Pasture?

Over seeding is simple, effective and a low-cost way to improve old pastures without tilling and re-seeding. It’s cheap, quick and low risk, helps suppress weeds, and prevents soil erosion.

To get the best results you can follow our guidelines below.

Survey The Damage

Many fields had weaker than normal forage stands going into the winter. This left many of us wondering how the stands will respond when we get a couple of spring rains that have the potential to turn our green pastures into a muddy mess when the livestock start grazing it.

Part of the explanation for the mess is that the root system of our forages grows in proportion to the top growth. Close frequent grazing, which limits the available top growth, will also effects the growth of the root systems. With limited root growth, it does not take much livestock traffic to really tear up a field. So what can we do to help thicken up our forage stands that have been weakened by this harsh weather?

First estimate the forage stand to determine what restoration options you will need to do. This can be done by using a one foot square to quantify stand density. Take 10 random one-foot square samples per hayfield or pasture to provide an estimate of the average stand condition. Estimate the amount of bare ground in each square. When you have completed taking these plot counts over the field you probably came away with a feel for whether the field needs help from partial renovation or not.  If there is more than 10% bare ground you need to consider some sort of renovation.

Get The Timing Right

The seed is dependent on soil moisture to help it germinate and establish. Good seed-to-soil contact is also vital for establishing a strong seedling stand. There are several approaches to inter planting into an old pasture. A simple but effective way is to frost seed it, by broadcasting the seed over the ground when it is frozen. As the soil thaws and freezes, the seed will be worked into the ground.

It can also be planted into open pastures when soil temperatures start to get above 52°F. If the pasture sod is dense, it may need to be disked or harrowed to open areas for the seeds to contact the soil to establish.

Seed can also be planted at any point through the summer if there is enough soil moisture.

Aggressive growing pastures should not be seeded during May and June when excessive grass growth will smother any new seedlings.

How To Plant

Seed may be broadcast or drilled into recently grazed or cut pasture. A spinner spreader is good for applying low rates and will distribute clover seed up to 30 feet.

Seed broadcasted into open pastures may have to be worked into the soil with either a harrow. This is good for opening thicker sod pastures. On the other hand, a grass drill can be used and will set the seed right into the soil.

What’s The Best Clover For Cattle Pastures?

The best results come from vigorous strains of tetraploid ryegrass (Albion and Oro Verde). They are quick to establish and ideal for grazing pasturelands. We put our #1 selling Perennial Ryegrass to the test on our Iowa Research Farm. Read Utilizing Perennial Ryegrass For Cattle Pastures.

White and red clovers (Domino, Ladino, AberLasting,  Dynamite) usually give good results when sown into warm, moist soils and especially where grazing management is practiced.

Annual Clovers (Frosty, Fixation, Kentucky Pride) can be planted to improve feed quality during the summer slump and can be sown in during the spring.

Do not allow the grass in the field to grow tall and get too mature. Not only will this result in poor quality pasture or hay, but will result in the shading of the legumes. If the pastures reach 8 to 10 inches tall, either graze them down to 3 to 4 inches or mow them for hay. This will prevent the spring flush of growth from shading the clovers. A good rotational grazing plan will help preserve the clovers.

Legumes should be a component of any pasture or hay field. They help to improve animal performance and reduce the need for nitrogen. Either one of these benefits alone is enough to make legumes profitable in your pasture. With both it makes them a necessary component of any pasture.

To help you decide on the best forage for your cattle, check out our helpful chart.

One of the things that we like to investigate at our Richland, Iowa research farm is how our products perform. Being the leader in clovers and having the #1 selling Perennial Ryegrass in the area, Albion, we decided to see what kind of feed we could get from a two-way pasture mix.

I planted 2, 8’ x 10’ reps of each clover/grass mixture on August 8, 2017. The ground was dragged with a harrow and the seed was broadcast and raked in, then the seed bed was firmed up with a roller.

Seeding rates were as follows:

• Albion Perennial Ryegrass:          20 lbs/acre
• Domino White Clover:                    3 lbs/acre
• Fixation Balansa Clover:                4 lbs/acre
• Frosty Berseem Clover:               12 lbs/acre
• AberLasting Hybrid Clover:            3 lbs/acre
• Kentucky Pride Crimson Clover:  12 lbs/acre

Last Fall was unusually dry and hot, but I caught a good rain (0.7”) on 8/14/17 that got the seeds sprouted before a gully washer (5.6”) on 9/18/17. Growing conditions were good until late October when it turned cold and the growing season ended. The plots were mowed a couple times before heading into winter. The winter of 2017/2018 was fairly normal with a stretch of cold weather in early January.

We had a couple weeks of subzero temperatures around the holidays with low temperatures ranging from -9*F to -19*F. Fortunately, we had 6” of powdery snow on the farm during this cold snap. Our “spring”, if you can call it that, was unusually cold keeping soil temperatures really low.

The first 3 weeks of April featured overnight low temperatures in the teens and 20’s before finally warming up in the last week of April. Greenup came fast and furious once we broke out of the deep freeze. Once our soil temperatures got up in the 45-50* range, the grass and clovers started piling on the biomass. Survival of the Albion, FIXatioN, Domino, Kentucky Pride and AberLasting was excellent! Most of the Frosty Berseem Clover however, as expected, did not make it thru the winter.

Various clover varieties with Albion Tetraploid Perennial Ryegrass 

Albion Tetraploid Perennial Ryegrass w/FIXatioN Balansa Clover

As of May 21^st, the grass is showing vigorous re-growth as are the clovers. Temperatures have been warm with highs in the 70’s and 80’s with good moisture. These plots will be given a few more weeks to re-grow and further cuttings will be taken throughout the summer. The perennial clovers (Domino and AberLasting) will keep doing their thing and the Annual Clovers (FIXatioN & Kentucky Pride) will be allowed to flower to assess re-seeding potential. Stay tuned for updates!

For a printable, PDF version of this blog, click below.

Utilizing Clovers to Improve Feed Quality of Pastures.PDF