The following information was copied from the web site, www.ameriflax.com ,which tells about research by Kansas State University on several beef cattle herds. The results of this research is not surprising to me; in fact, it is fully expected. I taught people to use flax seed and flax seed oil to improve health for years through my seminars, "Gods Garden Will Heal You" and through my company Nutrition 2000, which I sold.

We have been using  flax seed with our goats and noticed immediately positive results. Our goats were healthy, but, we saw improvement in their vitality, weight gain and overall appearance very quickly. Stay tuned for up-dates.
Frank Willis

Adding a pound per head per day of ground flaxseed to beef cattle rations can dramatically enhance carcass value and improve intake in the process. On-going research indicates that higher levels of ground flax may enrich beneficial omega 3 fatty acids levels in flax-fed beef. Flaxseed is one of the highest natural sources of omega 3 fatty acids. It contains about 42% oil and 23% protein, making it an energy-dense replacement for other costly feed ingredients.

Quality Grade Improvements. Adding ground flax to the beef cattle rations consistently improves quality grade. Improvements in the percentage of cattle grading USDA Choice or better have resulted in carcass value increases of at least $6 to $18 per head (using an average Choice-Select spread of $8/cwt.) Research at Kansas State University indicates that adding a pound of ground flax per head per day to receiving diets repeatedly produced a higher percentage of USDA Choice and USDA Prime carcasses 150 to 200 days later. USDA Standard grading carcasses were virtually eliminated. Flax can also enhance carcass value when incorporated into the finishing ration. Feeding one pound per head per day appears to be optimal. When ground flax is fed later in the finishing period, research indicates it can reduce backfat levels resulting in improved USDA Yield Grades. Feeding flax to cattle appears to affect fat deposition, with the repartition of fat favoring intramuscular or "marbling" versus seam and backfat.

The first thing we discovered was that the goat will eat the flax seed whole and raw, without being ground up, digesting it 100%. We have checked hundreds of "poop pellets" and have never found an undigested seed. No other animal has that digestive ability; not the cow, horse, pig or humans; the seed will go through whole and undigested.

No intake depression. Getting energy dense diets into stressed feeder calves during the receiving phase can be a real challenge. Ground flaxseed is a valuable source of omega 3 fatty acids, protein and energy and can replace other costly ingredients such as tallow and soybean meal. Adding a pound per head per day of ground flaxseed to receiving rations doesn’t depress intake the way adding other sources of fat to diets often can. Indeed, research to date indicates that ground flaxseed actually improves intake, particularly during that critical first week after arrival.

We believe the flax seed is partly responsible for dramatic improvement when we first receive them. Three to five hundred new goats arrive at our farms each month, sometimes more. Flax seed is always an important part of our "Total Health Program" for these goats.

Jump-start performance. Typical improvements in gain (.1 to .2 lb. a day) and feed efficiency (5%) during the receiving phase generate immediate payback making ground flaxseed an exceptional value in backgrounding and starter rations.

Our new arrivals are often a little skinny and peaked looking. We believe that the flax seed, providing the Essential Fatty Acid "OMEGA 3", is a major reason that potential customers who stop by to see our herds almost always remark that our herds of goats look better than any they have seen. The goats gain weight and better appearance quickly when they "hit the ground running" with our "Total Health Program" at our farms.

A natural anti-inflammatory. Flaxseed contains components that appear to reduce many pro-inflammatory processes that can affect cattle health. The health improvement in stressed feeder cattle has been documented in a better response to antibiotic therapy and reduced re-treatment rates during the receiving phase.

One of our customers, who is the Research Man for a large company with a Hog operation, told us about research showing that male hogs produced larger & healthier litters when they were fed ground up flax seed. Johanna Budwig, a doctor in Germany, showed that Omega 3 helped heal all kinds of disease. We believe that it is a great benefit to the goats.

This research was partially funded by "flax dollars" from the voluntary flax checkoff program administered by the North Dakota Oilseed Council (NDOC). The financial grant resulted from a cooperative agreement between the Plant Science Department at North Dakota State University, the NDOC and Kansas State University. The objective of North Dakota flax producers is to develop significant new markets for flaxseed from North Dakota.