Cover Crops on Livestock Operations: Potential for Expansion in the United States

Cover Crops on Livestock Operations: Potential for Expansion in the United States

by Maria Bowman, Maroua Afi, Aubree Beenken, Amy Boline, Mary Drewnoski, Fernanda Souza Krupek, Jay Parsons, Daren Redfearn, Steven Wallander, and Christine Whitt

This report looks at how incorporating cover crops into an integrated crop-livestock system with cattle, such as by grazing or harvesting the cover crops for forage, might improve the profitability of cover cropping and livestock production. It summarizes the literature on the profitability of using cover crops for forage, presents new findings from USDA's Census of Agriculture and Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data on the prevalence of cover crop use and grazing/harvesting on cattle operations, and examines the potential for increased adoption of cover crops on cattle operations.

Keywords: Cover crops, grazing, livestock, forage, cattle, cow-calf operation, dairy, soil health practices, conservation practices

In this publication...

• Entire Report
• Report summary