My pigs love these, what are they?

Trying to identify these... Apparently my pigs love them. Alongside mint, they grow randomly everywhere, even in hard clay soil.. The grass is soft. They'll eat this, but no other grass. The weed looking thing, no idea why they eat it.
After determining what they are I'd like to see if one or both of these could be a primary source of forage. Thanks for any ideas.

Does the second have any scent (I'm guessing yes) and if so what does it smell like? It kinda looks like Chamomile... Check Anthemis cotula - stinking chamomile, Foeniculum vulgare - Fennel or Anthemis nobilis - Chamomile.

Philip Green wrote:Does the second have any scent (I'm guessing yes) and if so what does it smell like? It kinda looks like Chamomile... Check Anthemis cotula - stinking chamomile, Foeniculum vulgare - Fennel or Anthemis nobilis - Chamomile.

Philip,

I forgot to mention that! I wish I could compare it to something, but can only describe it as a bitter, not so nice smell lol.

bill archer wrote:

Philip Green wrote:Does the second have any scent (I'm guessing yes) and if so what does it smell like? It kinda looks like Chamomile... Check Anthemis cotula - stinking chamomile, Foeniculum vulgare - Fennel or Anthemis nobilis - Chamomile.

Philip,

I forgot to mention that! I wish I could compare it to something, but can only describe it as a bitter, not so nice smell lol.

One of the difficulties with scents is that they aren't easy (or even really possible) to describe accurately... The other is that their perception varies between individuals. Given that (it appears) you are in Oregon and it seems to be a weed, it is most likely either, pineapple weed (which smell pineapple-like), scentless chamomile (which I haven't encountered but I'm guessing it has little or no smell) or stinking chamomile. As it smells bad, I'm guessing stinking chamomile. if you can find a flower later in the season you can probably confirm or refute with that.

Philip Green wrote:

One of the difficulties with scents is that they aren't easy (or even really possible) to describe accurately... The other is that their perception varies between individuals. Given that (it appears) you are in Oregon and it seems to be a weed, it is most likely either, pineapple weed (which smell pineapple-like), scentless chamomile (which I haven't encountered but I'm guessing it has little or no smell) or stinking chamomile. As it smells bad, I'm guessing stinking chamomile. if you can find a flower later in the season you can probably confirm or refute with that.

Affirmative on the stinking chamomile! The daisy looking flowers really threw us off, there are some that are flowering and are a 100% match. Thank you.

Any idea on the type of grass? Is it anything special, or common weed? It's soft, has kind of a fuzzy feel. Seems to grow well in hard clay soil which is promising.

bill archer wrote:Any idea on the type of grass? Is it anything special, or common weed? It's soft, has kind of a fuzzy feel. Seems to grow well in hard clay soil which is promising.

Grasses are tough, especially without any seedheads. I'm going to take a wild guess and say Elymus elymoides - squirrel tail. But that is a guess and I'm not very confident in it.

Thanks Philip, that's actually another variety I was wondering about. After sifting through hundreds ad hundreds of images/sites, I think it looks more like False Brome (aka Bunchgrass) - http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Wildflower/plant-Brome-False.html
Seems like it's invasive "As this species has spread to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. it has demonstrated a capability of dominating forest understories and open grasslands to the exclusion of all other flora found in those areas." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Brome

Pigs seem to really like it, hopefully it's not bad for them, being a noxious weed and all.
I was trying to find info on it's nutritional value but nothing found by way of protein.