The Feeding Value of Grass and Grassland Products

Abstract

The increasing cost and scarcity of imported feeding-stuffs and the consequent increased importance of self-sufficiency has directed more and more attention to grassland in the past ten years, and with the spread of ley-farming across the borders of Scotland and Wales there has been a great increase in the acreage of temporary leys in England. But it is a commonly expressed opinion that our knowledge of how to produce grass has not been matched by knowledge of how to feed it. I think that this is an exaggerated and unduly pessimistic view. While there is undoubtedly much still to be learned about the feeding value of grass and many workers are at present studying it, I think that we have already a great fund of knowledge, and what's more that most of it has been available for the last 10-20 years at least. There is neither the time nor, in view of the reviews by Watson (1939, 1948, 1950), the need for a comprehensive review of the literature, and today I intend to give merely a brief historical review followed by a general statement of current knowledge and finally some comments on matters of interest in current grassland practice.