This article written by Dr. Reynold Bergen, BCRC Science Director, originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and is reprinted on the BCRC Blog with permission of the publisher.

Some rumen microbes prefer to break down fiber, while others thrive on sugars and starches. This allows cattle and other ruminants to take advantage of a wide variety of different feeds. If the feed contains a lot of poorly digestible fiber, the fiber digesting microbes will predominate. This allows ruminants to survive in Canada’s long, cold winters. Other rumen microbes dominate when plants are growing rapidly in spring and contain a lot of sugar and easily digestible fiber. These more digestible feeds provide energy and protein to the animal more quickly, and deliver the nutrients needed to allow them to produce milk, recover body condition, grow, and rebreed quickly and efficiently during Canada’s relatively short growing season.

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