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Question: What is meant by the term protein degradability and what does it mean for beef cows?

Protein degradability is a term used in ruminant nutrition and therefore applies only to ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, and goats, etc. To get a handle on this concept let’s define crude protein (CP), and how it is measured, and then relate it to ruminant nutrition. The CP content of feed is measured by analyzing for the total nitrogen (N) in the feed and multiplying by 6.25 (because, on average, protein is about 16% N; that is, 1/0.16 = 6.25). For example, a hay sample with 2% nitroge...