Livestock Nutrition

1. Livestock Nutrition Classification and use of Feeds

2. Classifications of Feeds • Air dry roughages contain more than 18% crude fiber and less than 60% total digestible nutrients (TDN) • Air dry concentrates generally contain less than 18% crude fiber and more than 60% TDN. • Feeds that have more than 80% dry matter (DM) are air-dry, while higher than 80% they are called high moisture feeds.

3. Forms of Feed • The three types of feed are dry, green and high moisture. • Dry feeds are hay, grains oilseed, straw, stover, corn cobs, corn husks, soybean, hulls. • Green feeds include pasture and green chop. • High moisture feeds are high moisture grains, haylage, wet byproduct feeds, roots, tubers and silages.

4. Roughages • The two types of roughages are grass and legume. • Legumes have nodules on their roots that have bacteria whom fixate nitrogen. • Legumes include, alfalfa, clovers, birdsfoot trefoil, bean and pea hay. • Grass roughages include timothy, brome, orchard, reed canary, fescue, sudan, millet, oat

5. Concentrates • The three kinds of concentrates include grains, supplements and byproduct feeds. • Common grains are corn, oats, barley, sorghum (milo) and wheat. • Supplements are protein feeds, minerals and vitamins. • Supplements are either from an animal or vegetable origin.

6. Concentrates • Animal origin supplements include tankage, meat scraps, meat, bonemeal, fishmeal, dried skim milk. • Vegetable origin protein supplements include soybean meal, soybeans, cottonseed meal, peanut oil meal corn gluten, safflower meal, sesame oil, sunflower meal, linseed meal.

7. Concentrates • Urea is a non protein supplements, neither animal nor vegetable origin. Used primarily in feeding ruminants. • Minerals are generally some combination of calcium and phosphorus with trace minerals added. • Salt blocks may also have trace minerals added.

8. Concentrates • Vitamin supplements are necessary to provide vitamins in a lacking ration. • Byproduct feeds from the milling and brewing industries are also used in feeding. • Byproduct feeds include wheat bran, rice bran, wheat middlings, rye middlings, molasses, brewer’s grain, beet pulp, screenings and malt sprouts.

9. Reproduction • Poor nutrition is a major contributing factor to reproductive failure in livestock. • Production of sperm and quality of semen is determined by the quality of the ration. • Males that are too fat may become temporarily or permanently sterile. • Nutrient requirements for pregnant females are most critical during the last third of the gestation period, when the fetus grows the most.

10. Growth • During the growth period, there is a substantial increase in the size f muscle, bones, internal organs and other body parts. • Proper is growth is necessary for efficient producers when they mature. • Full genetic potential cannot be reached if the animal is not fed a well balanced ration. • Horse cannot perform to capacity if they are stunted or suffer from skeletal injuries during growth.

11. Growth • Young growing animals have a more rigorous nutritional requirement than do mature animals. • Nutritional deficiencies are reflected more quickly and more seriously in young animals than in mature animals. • Protein quality must be higher and Ca and P needs are greater. • The younger the animal, the greater is its need for good quality protein because of the rapid growth of muscle at this time.

12. Growth • A shortage of total digestible nutrients or net energy during growth will result in slower growth or smaller size when animals mature. • Mineral requirements are higher during growth because of the rapid bone growth. • A shortage of protein, energy, vitamins or minerals will result in animals with poor health, developing sicknesses easier, performing at a lower level and not reproducing.

13. Maintenance • A maintenance ration is one that maintains basic life processes without any work or production being done. • A maintenance ration must supply: • Heat to maintain body temperature. • Energy for vital functions an a minimum amount of movement; • Small amounts of protein, minerals and vitamins

14. Maintenance • Oxidation of food in the digestive tract and of nutrients in the muscles produce heat. • In easily digested feeds such as corn, about one third of the total energy available is converted into heat by the digestive process. • A higher proportion of the total energy found in roughages is converted into heat by digestion.

15. Maintenance • Maintenance rations for mature animals, except swine and poultry can be mostly roughages. • Even more energy is needed for animals that move a lot more, for example to water and feed. • A maintenance ration with little net energy is not sufficient for a maintenance ration. • Generally simple stomached animals, swine and poultry, cannot derive enough energy from roughages.

16. Maintenance • Horse can do great on a high energy roughage ration because they can utilize the roughage because of their cecum. • A maintenance requirement is relative to its amount of body surface, as well as its weight. An animal weighing 1200 pounds does not require twice as much TDN as 2 animals each weighing 600# each. • This is because the major heat loss is from radiation and conduction from the body surface and the 1,200 # animal does not have twice as much body surface as the 2 600# animals.

17. Maintenance • However, the heavier animal will require more energy for standing and moving than the smaller animals, thus weight is a factor for determining the maintenance requirements. • Protein is required because there is some breakdown of protein in the body tissues each day.

18. Maintenance • There is a daily loss of Ca and P so a small amount of these are also needed. • NaCl, vitamins A and D are also needed in maintenance rations. • It is easier to maintain your animals if you do not let them turn to far down, it will cost you money in feed and supplements to raise their health back up to a productive level.

19. Finishing for Market and Show • Beef, swine, lambs and broilers that are fed for meat need nutrients above the maintenance requirements for fattening. • Juiciness, flavor, digestibility and nutritive value of meat is improved by marbling, the stored fat in the lean meat tissues of the animal.

20. Finishing for Market and Show • Nutrients for fattening animals come from carbohydrates and lipids in the rations. • Protein not needed for repair for body tissues and other needs of the animals may also be converted into body fat. • Most animals are finished for market while they are still growing and young.

21. Finishing for Market and Show • Rapid gains in fattening livestock depend on a ready supply of TDN or energy, protein, minerals and vitamins in the ration. • Feed efficiency is higher when the ration is properly balanced for fattening livestock. • Animals being fitted for show purposes are fed a liberal supply of carbohydrates and fats, usually through the addition of more grain.

22. Finishing for Market and Show • Mature animals being fitted for show need little additional protein, minerals and vitamins above the maintenance requirements. • However, young, growing animals must be fed more liberal amounts to reach the desired level of finish for show.

23. Production • All milk cows have a high need for TDN, when expecting a milk cow to produce more milk they will require more protein, energy, vitamins and minerals. • Ewes producing lambs, wool and mohair will also require a ration higher in protein, energy, vitamins and minerals.

24. Work • Production of work is mainly limited to horses. • Riding and racing require additional nutrients for optimum performance. • As the amount of work increase, so does the TDN or energy requirements. • Protein, mineral and vitamin requirements of mature working horses are only a little greater than maintenance rations.

25. Work • Animals require additional nutrients (especially energy) in relation to the kind of terrain they are on and whether they are in confinement. • Animals on pasture, the distance to feed and water, animals on level land will not expend as much energy as those on a rough terrain.

26. Underutilized sources of feed • There are many food stuffs listed as underutilized, however many are expensive and can be hard to obtain. • Industrial food processing wastes, nonfood Industrial wastes, forest residues, animal wastes, crop residues and aquatic plants. • Out of all of these the most practical (from an economical standpoint and useable view) are forest residues, crop residues and aquatic plants.

27. Underutilized feedstuffs • Grains roughages, to this day remain the best feedstuffs for growth, reproduction and maintenance of animals. • Crop residues are one of the most widely used sources of maintenance rations used today, however, they will need to be supplemented with protein, vitamins and minerals.