K-State Researchers Looking At Hemp As Possible Feed

Hemp could become another feed alternative for cattle in the near future. A pair of studies at Kansas State University is bringing new insight to farmers and producers seeking to incorporate industrial hemp in cattle feed. Hans Coetzee, K-State professor and head of the anatomy and physiology department in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said hemp is currently grown for the value added product of CBD oil.

“But, once the oil has been extracted, the plant is left behind, similar with ethanol, and so we’re interested in understanding whether that material that’s left could be used in animals as a feed stuff.  And obviously in cattle or ruminants would be the target species because they can utilize these fiber rich, or cellulose rich plants much the same way they utilize the bioproducts of ethanol.”

Recently the K-State research team received a $200,000 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to establish concentrations of cannabinoids in livestock after exposure to industrial hemp.

“We’ll then be collecting samples of liver and kidney and mussel and fat tissue that will then be analyzed with the same equipment that they use to test athletes to make sure they’re not taking performance enhancing drugs," Coetzee noted. "We’ll use the same equipment to look at concentrations of CBD and other cannabinoids from the hemp plant in the animal tissues.  And that will be the final stage will confirm that there is no risk or a minimal risk to the consumer to eat or consume meat and milk from animals that have been fed hemp materials."

Coetzee,  says the goal is for long term financial support for hemp producers. Research on hemp as a feedstuff for cattle is not the only livestock being studied. Research on hemp as feedstuffs for sheep and goats is going on in Colorado and there have been studies with pigs and poultry, but since they are not ruminants, those studies have been with the seeds.

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