Acacia auriculiformis | Jose Torres

Most of the trees you see here are Mulga trees (Acacia aneura), which cattle start browsing more as the season gets drier. Mulga leaves are high in protein, but the tannins in the leaves make it very hard for cattle to assess this. Feeding them a urea based lick helps feed the good bugs in their gut that work on breaking down the leaves so they can utilise some of this protein. Cattle are ruminants (have 4 chambers or stomachs) and able to chew their cud to help break down the tough leaves, so w