Forage is a term used to describe plant material, mainly plant leaves and stems, that is eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, forage has meant only plants eaten by animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage. Forages are especially important for ruminant animals like cows, as they are the major source of the fiber which cows need to stay healthy. Forages, especially legumes, provide lots of protein, too.

There are different types of forage crops, including grasses, legumes, and other plants. Grass forages include Agrostis spp. (bentgrasses), Agrostis capillaris (common bentgrass), and Agrostis stolonifera (creeping bentgrass) . Legumes are plants that form seeds in pods, like peas. They have broad leaves and colorful, prominent flowers. They ‘fix’ nitrogen from the air into the soil, which can be used by other plants. Other forage crops include water lettuce, water hyacinth, fern, water spinach, and daikon radish.

Forages are also important for horses, as their digestive tracts were built to spend their entire day grazing on forage. A horse’s stomach is designed to continuously produce acid to help with digestion, and the stomach acid produced is then buffered by forage and saliva, which keeps it from damaging the stomach lining. Due to this constant production of acid, it is important for every horse to have free access to some type of forage as often as possible.

Forage crops are the primary producers at the beginning of a food chain that supports a wide diversity of insects, invertebrates, lizards, mammals, and birds.