Scientist Finds Secret Ingredient in Red Clover That Increases Weight Gain in Ruminants

Kathy worked with the Bureau of Land Management for 12 years before founding Livestock for Landscapes in 2004. Her twelve years at the agency allowed her to pursue her goal of helping communities find ways to live profitably AND sustainably in their environment. She has been researching and working with livestock as a land management tool for over a decade. When she's not helping farmers, ranchers and land managers on-site, she writes articles, and books, and edits videos to help others turn their livestock into landscape managers.

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August 6, 2018

2 Comments

Doug says:

March 13, 2018 at 3:24 pm

Thanks for following this research…please share on FB!

Never been a fan of DDG as I didn’t like the effect it had on the cow, her contentment and her manure over several days….still don’t consider it a good feedstuff and have a better understanding of the underlying cause now thanks to the paper.

We live in tough country for red clover…..at best a weak biannual but more often an annual in low density….recent variety releases seem no better than old standards. As long as RC seed price remains similar to crimson or vetch, we will continue use in winter annual blends.

Interested in similar research for white clover and hairy vetch.

Thanks,
Doug
curt gesch says:

March 13, 2018 at 7:32 am

I’ve top-seeded (frost seeded) both common double-cut and Freedom red clover in thin spots in alfalfa. The field also has a section that is too wet for alfalfa and grows almost straight timothy. Last summer both parts of the field were harvested early as haylage and made superb feed. The timothy was almost all leaf. Nevertheless, when time for feeding came, the cows eating a bale of grass, a tiny bit of alfalfa, and lots of red clover ate about 1/3 less. No very scientific, but my cows didn’t want to do replications.

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