Ruminants, such as dairy cows, can very well utilize NPN (see Chapter 2). Hence, instead of feeding dairy cows expensive (true) protein, cheaper sources of nitrogen can be used as well. Urea which is relatively cheap chemical product, is such a non-protein nitrogen. However, certain precautionary rules must be observed when feeding non-protein nitrogen to dairy cows. It should be realized, that NPN (urea) can only be used in low level production systems with high amounts of poor quality roughage. In feeding high yielding dairy cows, this NPN does not play a significant role. In case the ration is.
