Why cover crops?

Grass-legume mixture yields are similar to grass monocultures fertilized with upward of 100 to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre. With the cost of fertilizer around 50 cents per pound, grass-legume mixtures can result in substantial cost savings. Legumes also provide greater protein concentration and other soluble cell contents compared to grass monocultures, and cattle intake rates are greater for legumes than grasses.