Animal feed

{{Further|Fodder}}File:Horses eating hay.jpg

"Fodder" refers particularly to foods or forages given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves. It includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and sprouted grains and legumes. Grass and crop residues are the most important source of animal feed globally.{{Cite book |author1=Mottet, A. |author2=de Haan, C. |author3=Falcucci, A. |author4=Tempio, G. |author5=Opio, C. |author6=Gerber, P. |url=https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc3134en |title=More fuel for the food/feed debate |publisher=FAO |year=2022 |location=Rome}}{{Cite journal |last=Mottet |first=Anne |last2=de Haan |first2=Cees |last3=Falcucci |first3=Alessandra |last4=Tempio |first4=Giuseppe |last5=Opio |first5=Carolyn |last6=Gerber |first6=Pierre |date=2017-09-01 |title=Livestock: On our plates or eating at our table? A new analysis of the feed/food debate |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912416300013 |journal=Global Food Security |series=Food Security Governance in Latin America |language=en |volume=14 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1016/j.gfs.2017.01.001 |issn=2211-9124}} Grains account for 11% of the total dry matter consume by livestock at global level and oilseed crops by-products such as soybean cakes account for 5%. The amount of grain used to produce the same unit of meat varies substantially between species and production systems. According to FAO, ruminants require an average of 2.8 kg of grains to produce 1 kg of meat while monogastrics require 3.2. These figures vary between 0.1 for extensive ruminant systems to 9.4 in beef feedlots, and from 0.1 in backyard chicken production to 4 in industrial pig production. Farmed fish can also be fed on grain and use even less than poultry. The two most important feed grains are maize and soybean, and the United States is by far the largest exporter of both, averaging about half of the global maize trade and 40% of the global soya trade in the years leading up the 2012 drought.{{cite news |last1=J. P. |date=2 August 2012 |title=Is soya next? |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2012/08/food-prices |access-date=2022-07-23}} Other feed grains include wheat, oats, barley, and rice, among many others.

Traditional sources of animal feed include household food scraps and the byproducts of food processing industries such as milling and brewing. Material remaining from milling oil crops like peanuts, soy, and corn are important sources of fodder. Scraps fed to pigs are called slop, and those fed to chicken are called chicken scratch. Brewer's spent grain is a byproduct of beer making that is widely used as animal feed.

{{visible anchor|Compound feed}} is fodder that is blended from various raw materials and additives. These blends are formulated according to the specific requirements of the target animal. They are manufactured by feed compounders as meal type, pellets or crumbles. The main ingredients used in commercially prepared feed are the feed grains, which include corn, soybeans, sorghum, oats, and barley.

Compound feed may also include premixes, which may also be sold separately. Premixes are composed of microingredients such as vitamins, minerals, chemical preservatives, antibiotics, fermentation products, and other ingredients that are purchased from premix companies, usually in sacked form, for blending into commercial rations. Because of the availability of these products, farmers who use their own grain can formulate their own rations and be assured that their animals are getting the recommended levels of minerals and vitamins,R. A. Zinn, [http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/faculty/zinn/pdf/04.pdf A Guide to Feed Mixing], University of California, Davis. although they are still subject to the Veterinary Feed Directive.

According to the American Feed Industry Association, as much as $20 billion worth of feed ingredients are purchased each year. These products range from grain mixes to orange rinds and beet pulps. The feed industry is one of the most competitive businesses in the agricultural sector and is by far the largest purchaser of U.S. corn, feed grains, and soybean meal. Tens of thousands of farmers with feed mills on their own farms are able to compete with huge conglomerates with national distribution. Feed crops generated $23.2 billion in cash receipts on U.S. farms in 2001. At the same time, farmers spent a total of $24.5 billion on feed that year.

File:Bush-based_animal_feed.jpg that is used as a basis for local fodder production in Namibia]]

With progressing climate change and reoccurring droughts, extensive rangeland agriculture increasingly suffers of forage shortage. Innovative approaches to substitute forage include the harvesting and processing of shrubs into animal feed. This has been extensively researched and applied in Namibia, using waste biomass resulting from woody encroachment.{{Citation |last=Mupangwa |first=Johnfisher |title=Utilising Encroacher Bush in Animal Feeding |date=2023 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2427-1_14 |work=Towards Sustainable Food Production in Africa: Best Management Practices and Technologies |pages=239–265 |editor-last=Fanadzo |editor-first=Morris |access-date=2023-10-13 |series=Sustainability Sciences in Asia and Africa |place=Singapore |publisher=Springer Nature |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-981-99-2427-1_14 |isbn=978-981-99-2427-1 |last2=Lutaaya |first2=Emmanuel |last3=Shipandeni |first3=Maria Ndakula Tautiko |last4=Kahumba |first4=Absalom |last5=Charamba |first5=Vonai |last6=Shiningavamwe |first6=Katrina Lugambo |editor2-last=Dunjana |editor2-first=Nothando |editor3-last=Mupambwa |editor3-first=Hupenyu Allan |editor4-last=Dube |editor4-first=Ernest}}

In 2011, around 734.5 million tons of feed were produced annually around the world.Peter Best, [https://www.feedstrategy.com/feed-mill-management/world-feed-panorama-once-again-industry-increases-its-volume/ "World Feed Panorama: Once again, industry increases its volume"], Feed Strategy, 31-01-2012.

File:Cows_eating_TMR.JPG]]

The US Animal Drug Availability Act 1996, passed during the Clinton era, was the first attempt in that country to regulate the use of medicated feed.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

In 1997, in response to outbreaks of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, the United States and Canada banned a range of animal tissues from cattle feed. Feed bans in United States (2009) Canada (2007) expanded on this, prohibiting the use of potentially infectious tissue in all animal and pet food and fertilizers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/prions/bse/feed-ban.html|title=Feed Bans BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) {{!}} Prion Diseases {{!}} CDC|website=www.cdc.gov|access-date=2016-09-30}}

File:Maasai man with cattle.jpg from the Maasai people watches as his cattle graze in the Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania.]]{{Excerpt|forage|files=0}}

{{Excerpt|Feed manufacturing|files=0}}

In agriculture today, the nutritional needs of farm animals are well understood and may be satisfied through natural forage and fodder alone, or augmented by direct supplementation of nutrients in concentrated, controlled form. The nutritional quality of feed is influenced not only by the nutrient content, but also by many other factors such as feed presentation, hygiene, digestibility, and effect on intestinal health.

Feed additives provide a mechanism through which these nutrient deficiencies can be resolved, improving animal rate of growth, health, and well-being. Many farm animals have a diet largely consisting of grain-based ingredients because of the higher costs of quality feed.Merck Manual October 2014, [http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/management_and_nutrition/nutrition_cattle/nutritional_requirements_of_beef_cattle.html Nutritional Requirements of Beef Cattle], Accessed March 18, 2015.Merck Manual March 2012, [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160514230250/http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/nutrition_and_management_poultry/nutritional_requirements_of_poultry.htmlNutritional Requirements of Beef Cattle], Accessed March 18, 2015.

{{Excerpt|Chelates in animal nutrition}}

{{Excerpt|Insects as feed}}

{{Excerpt|soy meal}}

• Bird feed
• Cat food
• Cattle feeding
• Dog food
• Equine nutrition
• Fish feed
• Pet food
• Pig farming
• Poultry feed
• Sheep husbandry

• Appetein
• FEFANA
• Hammermill
• Pellet mill

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• [http://www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/farmingfood/animalfeed/animalfeedlegislation Animal feed legislation and guidance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213235422/http://www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/farmingfood/animalfeed/animalfeedlegislation |date=2010-12-13 }}
• [http://www.fao.org/ag/AGa/AGAP/FRG/Feedsafety/feedsafety.htm FAO Feed Safety guidelines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202144046/http://www.fao.org/ag/AGa/AGAP/FRG/Feedsafety/feedsafety.htm |date=2010-12-02 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081418/http://www.afia.org/Biosecurity_Guide.html Feed - Biosecurity Guide]
• [http://www.feedmachinery.com/articles/feed_related/feed-industry-infographic/ Infographic: A look at the global feed production 2012]

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Category:Animal husbandry

Category:Medicated feed

Category:Intensive farming