What nutritional advantage does the Zebu's browsing behavior offer over purely pasture-fed European breeds?
It offers access to different nutrient pools, often higher protein or specific micronutrients, than grasses alone.
While Zebus are primarily grazers, their flexibility includes incorporating browse—leaves and tender shoots from trees and shrubs—into their diet when available. This behavior provides a natural method of dietary diversification. Grasses, while providing bulk, might be deficient in certain necessary elements. By consuming browse, the Zebu accesses different nutrient pools, which frequently contain higher concentrations of specific micronutrients or protein levels not sufficiently supplied by the ground-level forage. This acts as an important, inherent form of nutritional insurance, contrasting sharply with specialized European breeds that rely almost exclusively on what grows horizontally along the ground plane.
