We are living day to day with animals as a vital part of our lifestyle more than you may have realized – we see them thriving in our environment.
These animals play a critical role in our survival as well, especially the livestock where we depend on our source of macronutrients generally.
This industry has been progressing with remarkable breakthroughs in practices and techniques to provide for the needs of the community.
In the livestock industry, it is fundamental to consider animal welfare and health as the most important aspect of this business.
In terms of health, farm animals need all essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, fats, and more to grow and live healthy, just like humans.
Proper feeding, and most importantly, the high nutritional content of livestock feed, such as laying hens feed, leads to growth and good productivity. Successful feeding means a good return for this business industry.
What Are The Major Ingredients In A Livestock Feed?
To achieve the best nutritional value of a feed, it is vital to factor the ingredients incorporated into the formulation.
Reliable feed ingredients are substances that make up a feed that proves to be beneficial, healthy, and safe to be eaten and consumed by livestock animals.
These ingredients play to be the essential keys to better yields for livestock farming.
The major ingredients in a livestock feed are divided into groups. These are the following:
- Energy Source (such as corn, wheat, and more.) – these are the ingredients that contain carbohydrates or carbs and give energy to livestock animals
- Protein Sources (such as fish meal, soya bean meal, amino acids, and more.) – these are the ingredients that are responsible for the growth and restoration of body tissues
- Minerals and vitamins (such as oyster, seashells, bone meal, common salt, and more.) – are the ingredients that strengthen the immune system of livestock animals; also, it helps the restoration and facilitates the overall health of other organs.
What Is Feed In Animal Nutrition?
Farm animals need healthy and nutritious feed. Adequate nutrition assures growth, good health, and good productivity of farm animals.
In the livestock industry, the health of the animals is paramount to the production ability of the farm, directly affecting the success of the business.
Feeds are created by thoroughly checking, analyzing, and merging ingredients to produce a portion of nutritious food that’s just not for the good health of animals but for the upsurge also of the quality of end products like meat and eggs.
This feed plays a major factor for a livestock farm to garner a quantity, at the same time quality of harvest in a due mark of time.
The quality of farm animals reflects the nutrition of the feeds in their diet.
Therefore, animal nutrition is dominantly dependent on the feed.
What Is The Most Important Ingredients In The Feed For Animal?
It is established that the production of livestock animals is critically dependent on the quality of the feeds integrated into their diet.
In the same manner, it is very crucial for the feed providers to select the best ingredient for the formulation to provide the best nutrition for our livestock animals.
Good health and abundant production of livestock animals mean they are consuming nutritious feeds. Feed ingredients must be checked to assure their safety, nutrient content, and quality.
The most important ingredients in the feed for animals, such as laying hens feeds, are as follows:
- Carbohydrates or carbs (such as grains, corn grits, and more) – the core source of energy and one of the main nutrients
- Fats (such as soybean, sunflower seed, maize, and more) – provide necessary fatty acid in the feed; helps to improve and empower membrane integrity and hormone synthesis
- Proteins (such as fish meat, soybean, canola, and more) – provide essential amino acids for the growth and restoration of body tissues like muscles, nerves and etc.; for livestock animals like hens, it can affect the development of their eggs.
- Minerals – one of the essential supplements that are vital because another mineral source like grains contains less amount and could not suffice the requirement needed.
- Vitamins – such as vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K.
How Is Animal Feed Made?
Aside from the selection of the best ingredients for the feed formulation, the method of manufacturing the feed determines the quality of the feed.
Animal feed is created to provide and give the animals all the necessary nutrients for them to properly grow and develop. Below are the four basic processes of how animals feed is being made:
1. Receiving of raw materials – upon receiving, ingredients will be weighed, tested, and then analyzed to determine the nutrient content and to ensure their quality and safety.
2. Creating a feed formula – this work is done by a nutritionist working with a scientist. This is a crucial part of the process since every species of animal has different requirements in terms of nutrition.
3. Mixing ingredients – if the formula is created and finalized, the mixing of ingredients will be done to create a finished product.
4. Packaging and labeling of the finished products – the finished product will be packed with the proper label and shipped out.
Why Animal Farming Is Important?
The human population has been drastically increasing over the years. This means that our food requirements are also increasing, and animal farming is one of the smart solutions.
Animal farming is a driving force for food security aside from providing other needed things that people are using, such as fiber, fertilizer, and more. Furthermore, animal farming strengthens the economy of a country.
Here are some of the reasons why animal farming is important:
1. Food source – meat, eggs and etc.
2. Source of income – through selling the animals, their meat, eggs or etc. to purchase other necessities as well as farm inputs, like fertilizer, feedstuffs, and more.
3. Employment generator – if the farm is already huge and there are a lot of animals, additional manpower will be needed to maintain and sustain the workload.
4. Energy source – the waste of animals can be used as a source of energy, such as dung for fuel and biogas production.
5. Fertilizer and soil improvement sources – the waste of animals can be used for fertilizer and soil improvement.
6. Poultry manure can also be used for ruminant feeding and can also be used to produce algae for fish feed, same as pig manure.
7. Saves foreign exchange by increasing animal production.
The Bottom Line
Every species of farm animals requires a different amount of nutrition; thus, feed formulation and their diet requirements are also different.
Farm Animal’s health, growth, and productivity depend on how properly and orderly the nutritional standard of feeds, as well as the proper proportion and the frequency of eating habits, are being followed, applied, and maintained.
And finally, animal farming contributes a big part to the country’s economy.
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