Livestock Feeds and Feeding - Vocabulary

Aims and Learning Objectives

• By the end of this course, students should be able to:
  • Define a feed and identify locally available livestock feeds.
  • Differentiate between roughage and concentrate feedstuffs.
  • Make a distinction between carbonaceous and proteinaceous feedstuffs.
  • Classify feeds and describe the characteristics of basic feedstuffs.
  • Produce silage and explain the hay making process.
  • Assess the feeding value of feedstuffs.
  • Formulate supplementary concentrate feeds for all groups of livestock and poultry.

Schedule

• ASB221 (Livestock Feeds and Feeding) schedule includes practical sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
• Classroom sessions are on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Why Study Animal Feeds and Feeding?

• Appropriate feeding is a major challenge facing livestock producers.
• The variation in the value of feeds influences the amount consumed by the animal.
• Knowledge of feed characteristics enables farmers to correctly apportion feeds to livestock.
• The overall health and productivity of livestock depends primarily on their nutritional status.
• This course will furnish students with knowledge on the properties of basic feedstuffs and how to feed them to livestock.

Introduction to Feeds and Feeding

• Livestock: Domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce labor and commodities (meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool).
• Feedstuffs: Any material of artificial or natural origin, fed to animals for the purpose of sustaining them.
• Forages: Vegetative plants in a fresh, dried, or ensiled state which are fed to livestock (e.g., hay or silage).

Food

• Biological Definition: Any substance that the body can take in and assimilate that will enable it to stay alive and grow.
• The carrier of nourishment or nutrients.
• Social Definition: A limited number of substances that are acceptable for consumption based on the culture or religion of the area.

Nutrients

• Constituents of the food that are indispensable to the normal functioning of the body.
• They provide energy, structural integrity, maintain or repair body parts, and support growth.
• Include water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, and minerals.

Nutrient (Detailed Definition)

• Refers to a chemical constituent of feed which nourishes or has a specific function in an animal.
  • A single chemical element (e.g. Sodium).
  • A compound (e.g. casein).
  • A group of substances (e.g. lipids).
  • A combination of substances (e.g. Glycolipids).

Importance of Nutrient Knowledge

• Knowledge of nutrients, their functions, utilization, interactions and effects of deficiency is fundamental to:
  • Further development of awareness about nutrition.
  • A practical use of the information in the feeding of animals.
• The principal organic nutrients in feeds are carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

Constituents of Feeds

• Moisture
• Dry matter
  • Energy
  • Protein
  • Fat
  • Carbohydrate composition
  • Organic matter and Minerals
  • Vitamins
  • Toxins and anti-nutritional factors
  • Phytochemicals

Terms Used in Feeds and Feeding

• Dry Matter: That portion of a feed or tissue remaining after the water has been removed, usually expressed as a percentage.
• Organic matter: That portion of the feed which does not contain any mineral (inorganic) elements.
• Palatability: Degree of acceptability of a feed or feedstuff to the taste or the degree of its acceptability to be eaten by an animal.
• Pasture: Fenced area of vegetation on which animals are grazed.
• Proteinaceous: Material containing protein as such or as the major nutrient.
• Appetite: Refers to internal factors (physiological or psychological) that stimulate or inhibit hunger.
• Carbonaceous: Material containing carbon as such or as organic (plant or animal) matter.

Digestibility

• It is a measurement or estimate of the feed constituents which upon consumption by the animal does not appear in the faeces and is assumed to have been absorbed hence often referred to as apparent digestibility.
• It gives an indication of the utilization of the feed by the animal.
• Digestibility can serve as a basis for comparing and recommending feeds.

Feed and Animal Body Composition

• Illustrates the composition of feed (Fresh Grass) versus animal body (Dairy cow) and animal product (Cow milk) in terms of Water, Crude Fat, Crude Protein, Minerals (Ash), and Carbohydrates (g/kg).
• Example values:
  • Water: Feed 800, Animal 570, Milk 877
  • Crude Fat: Feed 8, Animal 206, Milk 34
  • Crude Protein: Feed 35, Animal 172, Milk 33
  • Minerals (Ash): Feed 20, Animal 50, Milk 7
  • Carbohydrates: Feed 137, Animal 2, Milk 49

Feed and the Animal Body

• Animal production: process of converting CH2O based feed material into products which are mainly protein and fat in nature.
• (Isaiah 40:6).

Classification of Feeds

• Feeds are classified into eight groups according to their origin.
• Livestock raised on quality natural pastures are able to select and balance their diet.

A. Dry Forages and Roughages

• Examples:
  • Low protein (<10%) e.g. straws, stalks, standing hay.
  • High protein (> 10% protein) e.g. Lucerne and lablab.
• Includes all forages and roughages cut and cured and other products with > 18% fibre.
• Roughages are low in net energy.
• Provide the bulk of ruminant diets.

Effect of Processing on the Intake of Maize Stover by Sheep

• Compares intake of un-chopped versus chopped maize stover. Intake (g DM/kg feed d-1):
  • Un-chopped: 16.4
  • Chopped: 17.6
• Feed processing is particularly important when the level of feeding is increased for maximum production.
• Zero grazed animals are selective and more inclined to:
  • Select the more palatable ingredients.
  • Refuse/waste feed if the physical texture is not to their liking.

B. Pasture, Range Plants, and Forages Fed Fresh

• Includes all forage feeds uncut or cut and fed fresh.
• The feeds are usually low in dry matter (DM) content.
• Some are good sources of proteins e.g. acacia trees.
• Pasture plants are the commonest animal feed in Botswana.
• Grazing/Browsing livestock balance their diet of range plants.
• Most have good nutritional quality during the rainy season.

Nutrient Content of Some Feeds in Botswana

• Presents the % Nutrient composition of various feeds, including:
  • Panicum maximum (Mhaha)
  • Urochloa trichopus (Phoka)
  • Eragrostis rigidior (Rathathe)
  • Sorghum stover
  • Millet stover
  • Maize stover
  • Lucerne
  • Lablab
  • Colophospermum mopani (Mophane)
  • Peltophorum africana (Mosetlha)
  • Cage Layer waste
• Nutrients include Crude protein, IVOMD, Calcium, Phosphorus.

C. Silages

• The product formed when grass or other material of sufficiently high moisture content (e.g. forage legumes or forage corn) liable to spoilage by micro-organisms is compressed and stored in anaerobic conditions.
• Includes only ensiled forages e.g. Maize, Alfalfa, grass, etc. but not fish, grain, roots or tubers.
• Silages are best used for intensive production systems such as dairy farming.
• Require a considerable amount of knowledge and capital to produce.

D. Energy Feeds

• Are products with < 20% protein and < 18% fibre.
• Examples include grains, roots, fruits and tubers.
• Are used at < 20% of the total ration in ruminants.
• Enhance rapid weight gains.
• Need gradual introduction to ruminants due to possible metabolic disorders.

E. Protein Supplements

• Specially designed products for mixing before feeding.
• Used at inclusion rates of \leq5% with planned proportions of cereals and other feeds on the farm or feed mill.
• Includes protein rich feeds such as fishmeal.
• Contain > 20% crude protein.
• Subdivided into:
  1. Oil Seed meals e.g. sunflower meal and cottonseed meal
  2. Animal protein sources e.g. carcass meal, blood meal

F. Mineral Supplements

• e.g. Limestone, Bonemeal, Ca2PO4

G. Vitamin Supplements

• e.g. Carotene, ensiled yeast.

H. Additives

• Supplements such as anti - biotics, flavours, hormones and medicants.
• e.g. Monosodium glutamate, Coccidiostats, Rumensin, etc.
• They have no nutritional value to the animal.

Dryveld Concentrail Composition

• Class: Protein-Mineral-Trace Mineral Supplement for Ruminants.
• Registration No. N-FF 142 (Act/Wet 36 of 1947).
• Lists composition in g/kg and mg/kg for Protein, Protein ex NPN, Urea, Fibre, Calcium, Phosphorus, Moisture, Magnesium, Sulphur, Potassium, Iron, Copper, Manganese, Zinc, Cobalt, Iodine, Selenium, and Vitamin A.
• Contains Urea.

Provider 15% Pellet

• For Mature Cattle, Horses, Goats & Sheep.
• Lists guaranteed analysis for various components including Crude Protein, Crude Fat, Crude Fiber, ADF, Calcium, Phosphorus, Salt, Magnesium, Potassium, Selenium, Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, and Vitamin E.
• Includes a list of ingredients and feeding directions.

Total Mixed Rations

• AKA Complete feeds.
• Specially formulated mixtures of several ingredients designed to meet all the nutrient requirement of livestock.
• Are designed for specific classes of livestock and should not be used interchangeably.
• Examples include..