Sue recently left a comment on my fava bean post, and asked the following question:
Can Fava Beans (dried seed) be used to feed cattle? And if so is there anything that needs to be done to them?
It’s a great question, but unfortunately I don’t have the answer. Is there anyone out there with cattle experience who could answer the question?
I’m pretty sure you can use it as cattle feed. I remember that we used to give them to horses (way back when I was a horse person)
I don’t know, but I sure do love growing them. Thanks for getting me started on them a while off ago.
AFAIK they originated as cattle food…
I just found this article on the Farming UK site, and it’s pretty clear that fava (broad) beans can be used as feed for pigs cattle and chicken:
http://www.farminguk.com/news/NIAB-scientists-research-Faba-bean,-an-under-developed-crop8500.asp
As far as what you need to do to them before feeding them to the cattle, I’m not sure. There are some names in the article linked to above that you might try contacting.
Broad beans (our name!) are a refined version of field beans, which are grown as cattle feed. So I can’t imagine that there would be any problem.