Hemp For Cows? Colorado Approves Hemp-Animal Feed Study

DENVER (AP) — Colorado livestock could be eating hemp under a bill that passed the state Senate Tuesday.

The state Senate voted 34-0 in favor of bill directing the Colorado Department of Agriculture to study the feasibility of allowing farmers to use hemp in animal feed. Currently the practice is forbidden.

Hemp is a non-intoxicating cousin of marijuana. The federal government started allowing farmers to grow hemp under limited circumstances in 2014.

The Washington state Legislature passed a similar bill in 2015.

However, agriculture authorities in that state concluded just last month that hemp is not yet safe to use in poultry feed, saying there isn't sufficient research on whether marijuana's intoxicant, THC, could pass to the birds.

Colorado has about 300 hemp growers.

The hemp measure now moves to the House.

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)