There are many companies out there offering protein supplements with 100% or even 130% protein content.

What does that mean? We know that it would be difficult to get to 100% protein as there are other ingredients to account for. 

Non-Protein Nitrogen is just that, nitrogen without it being assembled into amino acids. 

Because Non-protein nitrogen sources are usually cheaper than real protein from oilseed meals or alfalfa hay, they can be used when convenient but with great caution. There are many horror stories about someone losing cattle to urea poisoning.

The rapidly available nitrogen in urea can create an ammonia excess in the rumen which raises the pH and can create bloat. It also can go into the bloodstream where it will take the place of hemoglobin displacing oxygen turning the blood chocolate color and the animal dead. 

With all of this, you may ask: why go to the trouble and management to use NPN if it has so many risks?

Understand when and how NPN can be used on different classes of livestock in this episode.