Back to: AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE JSS2
Welcome to class!
Last class, we discussed the Classification of Livestock.
In today’s class, we will be discussing Animal Feeding. We will be discussing different tools used in feeding animals and also the different types of animal feeds. Enjoy the class!
ANIMALS FEEDING
This is the process of giving feeds to animals. It is essential that the feeding of animals must be done well and efficiently, in order for the animals to be healthy.
FEEDING TOOLS:
They are devices or equipment used in feeding farm animals. Mono-gastric farm animals are fed mostly with mash prepared from cereals such as maize, guinea corn, millet, etc. Concentrates and Supplements are added to enrich the mash. The devices for feeding livestock range from feeding and watering troughs, to feeds processing tools such as spades, shovels, grinders, buckets, as well as scooping bowels. The various types of feeding tools include the following:
- Feeding Troughs:
They are devices made of wood, metal or plastic that is used for placing animal feeds in the pen. For the poultry, they long, shallow and rectangular shape. For other farm animals, they can be made spherical, round, rectangular, or square-like, open on the top and not very deep. The type used would depend on the age, size, and type of animals. For pigs, concrete feed bunks are constructed; for sheep and goats, feed buckets and hay rack are used. The hay racks are stands built to hold hay, straw or other forages used for feeding farm animals especially the ruminants.
- Water/Drinking Troughs:
These tools are used for holding water for farm animals in the pens or in the ranges. Feeding/Watering Trough can also be used for drug administration to animals by dissolving the drugs in the water. Drinking tools for farm animals can be in the form of bowls. They are mostly made with plastic materials or metals and are of different sizes and shapes.
Feeds processing tools may be used for mixing the feeds, sieving, grinding, drying or frying then. They include spades, shovels, buckets, scooping bowls, grinders, sieves, deep frying pots, etc.
Types of Animal Feeds
As long as livestock remains an integral part of agricultural society, there will always be the demand for animal feed on a large scale. With a large variety of livestock, from cows to chickens to horses to ducks, there must also be a large variety of different feed to accommodate their individual needs
· Compound Feed
One of the most common types of feeds used by commercial farmers is compound feed. Also known as feedstuffs, they’re blends of various additives and raw materials that are formulated to specifically suit the intended animal. They’re often produced as pellets or crumbles. Like modern vitamins with humans, they can be used to either satisfy the complete nutritional requirements of their target animals or as a supplement to other staples of the animals’ diets. They’re often complemented with extra vitamins and minerals. It is produced in astronomically large amounts, with over 600 million tons produced annually on a global scale.
· Fodder
Fodder, another type of animal feed, is used primarily to feed domesticated livestock such as goats, sheep, cattle, horses and pigs. It is typically composed of plant matter like hay, straw and grains. The term is used to describe these plants being given to the animals after the plants have been harvested, which contrasts with forage, as will be explained below. Meat and bone meal are occasionally mixed into fodder, which has been frequently blamed for the spread of mad cow disease and has been banned in many countries.
· Forage
Unlike fodder, which is harvested plant matter fed to animals in bunches or bales, forage is plant matter that is literally grown in a confined area with the intention of having it grazed upon by various livestock. It can be composed of legumes, grasses, corn, oats, alfalfa and other edible plants. The act of eating or grazing upon the plant matter is known as foraging.
In our next class, we will be talking about Animal Diseases. We do hope you enjoyed the class?
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