Articles

Average Nutrient Composition of Typical High Quality Pastures (dry matter basis)

Reference table of typical nutrient composition of high quality pasture.

Updated:

November 3, 2025

Dairy cow in a grassy field.

Nutrition Analysis

	# of samples	%, DM	%, CP	SP, % CP	RDP	ADF, %	NDF, %	NFC, %	Crude Fat, %
Cool season grass, spring	6	21.1	15.8	38	10.8	35.1	61.5	12.7	3.8
Cool season grass, summer	4	22.4	19.8	25.7	12.4	31	55.7	11.8	_
Cool season grass, fall	8	20.7	22.8	36.2	15.4	37.9	57.8	10.7	4.92
Mixed mostly grass pasture, spring	256	17.2	25.2	35.9	17.1	26.3	43.9	21.6	4.62
Mixed mostly grass pasture, summer	236	17.9	28.5	35.4	19.2	25.1	40.9	19.5	5.54
Mixed mostly grass pasture, fall	214	19.6	23.1	36.2	15.5	28	47.2	19.7	5.03
Legume pasture, spring	215	19.4	20.8	47.6	15.3	32.5	44.3	23.5	3.73
Legume pasture, summer	185	21.9	19.2	49.8	14.4	35.9	48.6	20.2	3.67
Legume pasture, fall	126	21.7	21	49.5	15.8	34.2	43.3	22.9	3.6
Mixed mostly legume pasture, spring	32	19.1	25.5	43.5	18.3	26	33.9	29.8	3.58
Mixed mostly legume pasture, summer	16	43.4	22.3	42.7	15.9	28.9	35.5	29.8	3.03
Mixed mostly legume pasture, fall	13	31.5	23	51.7	17.3	26.9	35.5	28.9	3.43
Sorghum-Sudangrass, immature	15	19.7	15.1	49	11.2	36.6	61.2	13.4	3.21
Sorghum-Sudangrass, mature	28	23.5	12.8	53.7	9.89	38.2	60.9	15.1	3.22
Pasture, unspecified species, spring	46	36	20.3	39.3	14.1	30.1	50.7	20.4	3.59
Pasture, unspecified species, summer	200	39.9	17.2	36.6	11.8	34.1	54.3	19.5	4.05
Pasture, unspecified species, fall	91	33.2	17.3	34.2	11.7	33.8	55.3	19.6	3.67

	Ash, %	Ca, %	P, %	Mg, %	K, %	S, %	Mn, ppm	Cu, ppm	Zn, ppm	Fe, ppm
Cool season grass, spring	8.41	0.40	0.32	0.20	3.05	0.25	112	16	38.1	306
Cool season grass, summer	10.1	0.35	0.36	0.24	3.46	-	76.5	15.4	25.3	259
Cool season grass, fall	9.39	0.73	0.39	0.32	3.28	0.39	-	-	-	247
Mixed mostly grass pasture, spring	10.5	0.81	0.38	0.3	3.61	0.33	-	-	-	154
Mixed mostly grass pasture, summer	12.0	0.71	0.46	0.29	3.92	0.36	-	-	-	450
Mixed mostly grass pasture, fall	10.7	0.56	0.40	0.25	3.68	0.33	-	-	-	120
Legume pasture, spring	10.7	1.19	0.38	0.29	3.09	0.28	50.9	10.8	33.4	368
Legume pasture, summer	10.9	1.15	0.35	0.32	2.95	0.29	73.6	15.1	33.6	464
Legume pasture, fall	11.9	1.27	0.38	0.32	3.15	0.30	69.9	13.8	33	497
Mixed mostly legume pasture, spring	10.2	1.25	0.34	0.32	3.28	0.33	-	-	-	153
Mixed mostly legume pasture, summer	12.9	1.6	0.34	0.43	3.55	0.35	-	-	-	-
Mixed mostly legume pasture, fall	11.3	1.18	0.37	0.33	3.58	0.34	-	-	-	464
Sorghum-Sudangrass, immature	10.2	0.53	0.35	0.35	2.58	0.18	67	16.6	52.9	544
Sorghum-Sudangrass, mature	10.7	0.57	0.34	0.33	3.03	0.18	-	-	-	632
Pasture, unspecified species, spring	8.92	0.64	0.35	0.25	2.97	0.26	83.4	14.8	40.7	277
Pasture, unspecified species, summer	8.63	0.68	0.33	0.27	2.74	0.26	49.7	15.5	33.9	286
Pasture, unspecified species, fall	8.41	0.7	0.29	0.30	2.45	0.26	50.6	13.1	26.5	302

	TDN	NEL	NEM	NEG	RFV	RFQ
Cool season grass, spring	61.6	0.61	0.62	0.36	93.5	115
Cool season grass, summer	64.1	0.62	0.63	0.37	108	-
Cool season grass, fall	60.1	0.60	0.59	0.33	96.5	104
Mixed mostly grass pasture, spring	67.9	0.69	0.74	0.46	155	171
Mixed mostly grass pasture, summer	70.1	0.71	0.77	0.49	167	80.7
Mixed mostly grass pasture, fall	68.1	0.69	0.74	0.47	141	118
Legume pasture, spring	62.0	0.68	0.64	0.37	148	159
Legume pasture, summer	59.2	0.59	0.57	0.31	125	141
Legume pasture, fall	59.4	0.59	0.58	0.32	145	155
Mixed mostly legume pasture, spring	67.2	0.68	0.73	0.45	216	124
Mixed mostly legume pasture, summer	63.0	0.63	0.63	0.37	196	-
Mixed mostly legume pasture, fall	64.9	0.66	0.70	0.42	190	132
Sorghum-Sudangrass, immature	59.4	0.59	0.58	0.32	-	-
Sorghum-Sudangrass, mature	58.6	0.58	0.55	0.3	-	-
Pasture, unspecified species, spring	65.0	0.66	0.69	0.42	128	112
Pasture, unspecified species, summer	63.1	0.64	0.66	0.39	112	158
Pasture, unspecified species, fall	62.8	0.63	0.65	0.38	119	127