Evaluation of Annual Cultivated Peanut as a Forage Crop for Grazing by Growing Beef Cattle¹

The cultivated annual peanut (groundnut; Arachis hypogaea L.) was evaluated in a two year demonstration study as a possible high quality pasture forage crop for grazing by growing beef cattle. A 4.2 ha field that was originally planted to annual peanut 3 yr prior to the start of the grazing study was used. For the first 3 yr, the forage was harvested for hay and then the 2-yr demonstration grazing study was initiated. The peanut was allowed to reseed each year. Early weaned calves were used each year: 25 (201 kg) for yr 1 and 20 (183 kg) for yr 2. The peanut field was rotationally grazed each year starting mid-July (yr 1) or early August (yr 2). The grazing season lasted 88 d for yr 1 and 55 d for yr 2. Estimated average forage yield was 6078 kg/ha and 4482 kg/ha for yr 1 and 2, respectively. The annual peanut initially was an excellent forage crop for grazing by the early weaned beef calves, but the lack of re-growth and declining forage quality resulting in poor cattle growth performance late in the grazing periods limits its use as a forage crop for grazing.