Using kochia as greenfeed

Jul 31, 2019

The plant can be very nutritious for livestock, a research scientist said

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A weed capable of causing significant yield losses could be a source of feed for livestock.

Producers with kochia pressure heavy enough to jeopardize the viability of a grain crop may want to consider harvesting the weed for use as greenfeed, said Alan Iwassa, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

The weed can produce up to 25,000 seeds per plant, but a farmer could use that to his or her advantage.

“In that case then the Kochia would be a very good ingredient in that (feed) mixture, which you could use as a feed source for your cattle,” he said, Discover Estevan reported.

The plant is very palatable during the vegetative stage and can have health benefits like traditional sources of animal feed.

“Kochia at that stage can be very nutritious and have crude protein values very similar to some of our very good-quality forages such as alfalfa,” he said.

Allowing the weed to mature longer will give it woodier stems, which can cause challenges for harvesting equipment while also reducing forage quality.

And no more than half of a cattle’s ration should be made up of the weed, Iwassa said.

But kochia contains saponins, alkaloids, oxalates and nitrates at levels that could be harmful to cattle, Saskatchewan Agriculture says.

Farms.com has reached out to AAFC and the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association for comment.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.