May 27: Red Clover and Cow Vetch: Friends to livestock

I've written a lot about flowers that you want to keep out of pastures, but here are two that are good for cattle. Most everyone is familiar with Red Clover.

Purple Clover

This is my favorite kind of clover because it grows so big and is almost guaranteed to contain a bit of nectar which you can taste by pulling out the petals and sucking on the ends. Another name for this plant is Cow Clover because it's used as food for cattle. You can also make tea out of it -- use about a 1/4 C of red clover blossoms per cup of boiling water. This website suggests adding mint leaves too, and collecting the red clover in baggies to save for later in the year.

Here's another plant that is good for cows, bees, butterflies, and even the soil! It's Cow Vetch.

Cow Vetch

Cow Vetch as a name sounds absolutely awful, but the plant is good as food for cows. Other names are Blue Vetch, Bird Vetch, Tufted Vetch, and Boreal Vetch. Although it does strangle smaller plants with its tendrils, it enriches the soil because of its nitrogen fixing properties, so it's good for land reclamation. It's a non-native, but at least it's a helpful guest!