Bermuda grass is commonly grown on fields receiving lagoon effluent as it has the ability to benefit from large amounts of nitrogen. However, for the nutrient cycle to be completed this Bermuda grass should be harvested and utilized, for example, as a feed ingredient. Bermuda grass would ideally be consumed by ruminants. However, North Carolina has a relatively small cattle herd and as a result, large amounts of Bermuda grass go unutilized. An alternative means of recycling the nutrients contained in Bermuda grass would be to feed the Bermuda grass to pigs.
Pigs can digest high fiber feed ingredients through fermentation in the large intestines.
This capacity, however, improves with the age of the animal. Thus, sows are much better at digesting high fiber feed ingredients than nursery pigs. Several research studies were performed to evaluate how well pigs can utilize Bermuda grass. The ability of the animals to utilize this material was determined by measuring the ability of the animals to digest the complete feeds. It was observed in this study that the animals did not like the Bermuda grass fortified feed.