Animal Nutrition and Feeding

Objectives:1. List the major nutrient needs of animals and describe the purpose of each.2. Contrast feed requirements with structure of digestive system.3. Describe the ways animals use nutrients.4. Describe the types of feedstuffs.5. Explain how animals are fed.6. Describe how rations are formulated.

abomasumamino acidsbalanced rationcaloriecarbohydratecarnivoreconcentratedietfatfeedfeed analysisfeedstuff fiber

foragefree accessgrowthherbivorelactation rationlipidmaintenancemineralnutrientnutritionomasumomnivorepalatability

Pearson Square Methodpermanent pastureproteinrationreproduction rationreticulumroughagerumenscheduled feedingstomach supplementtemporary pasturevitamin

As an animal producer, you want to provide feed that meets the needs of your animals. It should provide nutrients needed for animals to be productive and healthy. The nutrients needed vary by species, age, activity, and other factors. Most animals will balance their diets if given the opportunity. How can an animal balance their own diet?

Nutrition and Nutrients

Nutrition is the process by which animals eat and use food. Food is needed to live, grow, lactate, reproduce and work. Proper nutrition increases feed efficiency and rate of grain, it can decrease the number of days for a meat animal to make market weight.

It is important for animals to grow fast and to make good use of the feed. Feeding too much or the wrong feed can be a huge waste.

If animals are not fed to meet their needs, they won't grow, get sick, and may die. What animals are fed is based on many factors including digestive systems. Active animals need more

energy than those that are not active. (Courtesy, EquiSearch)

Nutrient Needs of Animals

Feedstuffs contain nutrients which are substances necessary for an organism to live and grow. They make it possible for animals to carry out life processes.

A ration is the total amount of feed an animal has in a 24-hour period that can be fed in certain amounts at one time or throughout the day. A balanced ration is one that contains all the nutrients that the animal needs in correct proportions. Too much of a nutrient is wasteful and can harm an animal, too little results in stunted growth and low production.

The required nutrients: water, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins.

Water: animals can live longer without food than they can water and it makes up about 75% of the weight of an animal's body. It can be as high as 90% in a newborn. Dairy cows can consume up to 50 gallons fo water on one warm day, why is this?

The amount needed is related to activity, gestation, and lactation.

Water has 2 basic functions:1. Regulate body temperature.2. Promotes biochemical processes (blood, cells, and tissue)

Water can be gained through drinking and feed and is lost through urine, feces, sweat, and vapor from the lungs. Water should be clean and available at all times.

Carbohydrates provide energy and should make up about 75% of an animal's diet. Carbs also aid in the use of proteins and fats, they provide energy for growth, maintenance, work, reproduction and lactation.

Major sources are cereal grains such as corn, wheat, barley, oats, hay and rye.

Carbs are not stored in the body and must be eaten daily, if unused they turn to fat.

Three types of Carbohydrates:

1. Sugar - simple (monosaccharide) and double (disaccharide). Glucose and fructose are simple sugars and sucrose is a double sugar. Sugars are found in fruits and milk as well as other foods. Unused glucose is converted to fat.

2. Starch - found in grain, root crops, and other plant materials. It can be converted to glucose in the digestion process.

3. Fiber-material left after the food has been digested. It is made of plant cell walls and cellulose, aids in the digestive system, absorbs water and provides bulk.

Lipids - a nutrient that can be dissolved with ether, a colorless liquid solvent used in nutrition research. Most lipids are fats or oils.

Fats are a good source of energy because they contain the highest amounts of energy, with 2.25 times more energy than carbs. Fats supply energy for normal body maintenance and provide healthy skin, keep the nervous system healthy, give food a good flavor, and carry fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.

Sources of fats in animal diets include, meat, tallow, vegetable oil, tankage (processed meat and bones), cottonseed, and fish meal. Animals can become obese, so it is important to monitor the fat intake of your animals and provide them with exercise.

Protein - is a nutrient needed to grow new tissue and repair old tissue. It is important for growth and it is used for energy when carbs and fats are deficient or missing. Protein is found in wool, feathers, horns, claws, beaks, DNA, RNA, skin, hormones, blood plasma and immune antibodies.

3-5% of the body's proteins are rebuilt every day, the highest amounts of proteins can be found in the muscles of animals.

Protein contains amino acids - which are the building blocks of protein. There are 23 amino acids in protein, 10 of those are essential.

10 Essential Amino Acids: PVT TIM HALL

P - PhenylalanineV - ValineT - TryptophanT - ThreonineI - IsoleucineM - MethionineH - HistadineA - ArginineL - LeucineL - Lysine

Learn these, you will need to know them for the test and it's useful for the rest of your life, I've even heard

these on Jeopardy from time to time.

The ten essential amino acids are used to make the other amino acids. Animals with simple stomachs must eat a variety of food, which can only contribute to part of the essential amino acids, so they can only synthesize 10 or 11 of the amino acids.

Ruminants have microbes in their rumen which synthesize the essential amino acids from the non-essentials and are digested in the digestive system providing the animal with the essential amino acids.

Sources of protein include soybean meal, cottonseed meal, fish meal, tankage, skim milk and alfalfa hay. It is the most common nutrient deficiency because feedstuffs are low in protein. Some example are to follow:

Corn is deficient in lysine and tryptophan, so that can result in slow growth. However, if you supplement corn with SBM, the problem can be solved.

Symptoms of a protein deficiency include anorexia, slow growth rate, decreased feed efficiency, anemia, edema, low birth weight of young, and lower milk production. Protein is like a chain, when deficient, the whole body suffers.

Young animals need diets higher in protein because it is essential for growth.

Baby pigs receive important nutrients from the milk of their mother. They will soon be weaned and fed a manufactured, high-protein feed.

Mineral - an inorganic element found in small amounts in the body. They are essential to skeleton growth and necessary for body systems to function properly, need to be provided through feedstuffs.

Soils that are deficient in minerals may produce feeds that are also deficient. Some deficiencies include selenium, copper, manganese, cobalt, and iodine, so we need to use supplements. Good sources include alfalfa hay, cereal grains, bone meal, molasses, and salt.

Macrominerals are needed in large amounts, microminerals (trace minerals) are required in smaller amounts. Both are equally important to skeletal growth.

Livestock can lick a mineral supplement block to gain needed nutrients in small amounts.

Calcium - macromineral, required in the highest amount, when not consumed daily, the body removes it from teeth and bones for other body processes.

Phosphorus - macromineral, key ingredient in the body's use of protein

Iron - needed to make hemoglobin for red blood cells

Iodine - will lead to fatigue, increased appetite, rapid pulse

Magnesium - causes muscle tremors and shaking

Sodium and potassium - needed to maintain water balance and transfer nutrients and waste through the cell membrane.

Animals do not often die from mineral deficiencies, but inadequate amounts can cause economic losses due to the producer. They can cause poor rate of gain, feed inefficiency, decreased reproduction, and a decrease in production of meat, milk, eggs, and wool.

Trace mineralized salt should be available to animals because it gives most animals the minerals they need.

Vitamins - are organic substances needed in small quantities to perform specific functions. Although they don't provide energy, they are necessary in using energy. Vitamins regulate body functions, keep it healthy, and develop resistance to diseases.

Vitamins are either fat soluble (stored in the fat and released when needed, includes A, D, E, and K) or water soluble (dissolved in water and need to be consumed every day, C and B).

Ruminants do not have any problems getting the necessary nutrients. Vitamin A may be the only one that is not readily available in most feeds. Vitamin D can easily be obtained when animals are exposed to the sun.

Alfalfa hay provides needed vitamins for cattle.

Foods and Digestive Systems

Animals have different digestive systems and feedstuffs should be selected based on it. Using the wrong feedstuffs results in poor growth and can lead to malnutrition. Cattle may perform well on good quality hay, but not hogs, hamsters and chickens would not!

Feeding Groups

Herbivores - an animal that eats foods from plant sources (leaves, stems, twigs, flowers, roots, and seeds) Cattle eat leaves and stems, others eat seeds, such as grain. Herbivores are the most efficient users of food materials.

Carnivore - an animal that eats foods from other animal sources, typically flesh. Some carnivores are fed meat foods that have been manufactured specifically for them. They need a meat-based diet. Examples: badgers, lions, dogs and cats.

Omnivores - eats both plant and animal food materials. Eat grain, leaves, meat, and similar food materials. Fish are often omnivores and hogs will eat meat as well as grain food materials.

Monogastric Systems

Has a simple stomach that stores ingested food and moves it into the small intestine. Some preparation for digestion occurs in the stomach. Acid is secreted by the stomach to destroy most bacteria and begin breaking down the food materials. Muscular movement of the stomach churns the contents and softens food materials.

Dogs, cats, chickens, hogs, and rats have monogastric stomachs. They are fed feedstuffs that are high in nutrients and digestibility. They don't do well on feedstuffs that are high in roughage and fiber.

Ruminant Systems

The stomach is divided into compartments, largest section is the rumen. The rumen receives ingested food and promotes fermentation. Ruminant systems are designed for the food materials to be ingested, eructated (belched up), chewed, and swallowed again.

The reticulum is the second segment of the stomach. It has many layer-like projects that trap materials that are not food such as nails or stones.

The omasum follows and is a small compartment that acts as a filter of materials for the next compartment - the abomasum which secretes gastric jucies that kill the microbes that have passed with food from the rumen.

The microbes are digested by the juices (acid) and other substances in the abomasum. The intestines serve in a similar manner to those of the monogastric animal in the absorption of nutrients.

Ruminants use food materials of high roughage. This is why cattle are known as efficient animals on grassland. The microbes that grow on ingested forage in the rumen are sources of nutrients. What are some other ruminant animals?

Nonruminant herbivores are animals that eat large amounts of roughage but do not have a stomach with several compartments.

The digestive systems of these animals do some of the same functions as those of ruminants. They often eat forage as well as grains and other concentrated feeds.

Examples:

Nutrient Uses and Requirements

Maintenance - is keeping the body at a constant state (no weight loss or gain). No matter what an animal is doing, nutrients are required. Remember, energy is required for internal workings of the body, heat to maintain body temperature, and small quantities of vitamins, minerals and proteins.

A maintenance diet is usually high in carb and fats and contains small amounts of protein, minerals, and vitamins. Animals on a maintenance diet are usually not growing, lactating, reproducing, or working.

Growth - is an increase in the size of muscle, bones, and organs of the body. Meat production depends on the growth of the animal. Growth requires mostly energy and smaller amounts of the other nutrients. A growth ration is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. For example, chickens are fed a carefully prepared ration so they grow quickly.

Young animals and breeding stock should receive a ration that provides plenty of protein. Young animals are expected to grow rapidly and efficiently.

Newborn pigs raised in confinement are routinely given iron injections. When outside, pigs are able to root in the soil and gain the iron that is needed for proper nutrition.

Reproduction

Proper nutrition is essential for efficient reproduction. Poor nutrition is a major reason for reproductive failures. During the first trimester of pregnancy, the fetus requires large amounts of protein, minerals, and vitamins, so a reproduction ration high in nutrients is needed by breeding animals. Females that don't receive a proper ration will give birth to underweight babies or abort the fetus before birth. Males also need proper nutrition, without it, their sperm production and fertility rates can be much lower and they will be unable to breed females.

After the foal is born, this mare will be on a lactation diet.

Lactation is the production of milk. Females must have nutrients to produce large quantities of milk. A lactation ration is given to females who are producing milk because they require higher levels of nutrients in areas of protein, calcium, and phosphorus.

Work

Work and activity require energy. This includes all kinds of work and activity for animals such as draft horses, race horses, hunting dogs, and guard llamas. Increased carbs and fats supply the needed nutrients.

Types of Feeds

A feedstuff is an ingredient used in making feed for animals, includes corn, SBM, and barley. Most feedstuffs have been analyzed for nutrient content.

Feed is what animals eat to get nutrients, some are high in nutrients while others are low. Most feeds provide more than one nutrient.

Feedstuffs can be fed to provide flavor, color, or texture to increase palatability or how well the animal likes a feed. Some feedstuffs are made more palatable by adding molasses because animals like the sweet taste. A feed high in nutrients is of no benefit if animals refuse to eat it.

Feed Classification

Roughages - feeds that are mostly leaves and tender stems of plants, also known as forages. A forage is a bulky feedstuff that is high in fiber-roughage. They are also low in protein and energy, but are fed because they are relatively inexpensive. Young, tender forage plants are more nutritious than older, tougher plants.

Grasses and legumes are grown in pastures as forage. A permanent pasture has plants that live from one year to the next. Crimson and white clover are examples used in permanent pastures. Most clover is planted mixed with grasses such as Bermudagrass, Kentucky blue grass, and bromegrass. Native grasses are pre-dominant on ranglands.

A temporary pasture is planted to forages for grazing during one season or year. Most temporary pastures are planted to high-yielding forages, such as millet or milo. Some forages are planted for harvesting and feeding at a later date. Hay, crop residue, green chop, and corn silage are examples and they contain high levels of fiber.

Forages are harvested at the vegetative stage. As the plant matures, it loses energy because the energy is being put into the seed for reproduction. The younger the plant, the more energy and protein it will contain.

Hay is sun-cured to maintain nutrients.

Hay should be covered from the rain because moisture causes it to deteriorate and lose nutritional value.

Concentrates are feeds that are high in energy or protein and have more energy per pound than forages but are usually lower in protein. Examples of high-energy: corn, wheat, sorghum, barley, rye and oats. Examples of high-protein: soybean oil meal, cottonseed oil meal, and sunflower meals.

Cattle are usually not fed concentrates in a maintenance ration. They are fed if the forage is of very poor quality. Sheep may also receive concentrates to supplement forage.

Many small animals need concentrates as a regular part of their diet. Cats, dogs, hogs, and similar animals are fed diets appropriate to their needs.

Supplements - are a feed material high in a specific nutrient. Protein supplements include meals made from soybeans, cottonseed, corn gluten, sunflower meal, rape seed, and coconut.

Protein quality is usually less important to ruminants than nonruminants because microbes in the rumen produce protein. Nonprotein sources of nitrogen, such as urea or ammoniated molasses, are available for ruminants to eat.

Salt and mineral blocks can be placed in a feedlot or pasture for free-choice feeding

Rations and Diets

A ration should provide the right amount and proportion of nutrients. A diet is the type and amount of feed an animal receives in its ration and includes water. Diets should be based on the needs of the animal and vary according the nutrient content of the feed.

A good ration should be balanced, have variety, be succulent, palatable, bulky, economical, and suitable. If balanced, it will increase feed gain, decrease expense, and increase profits. A variety of feeds will make ration-balancing easier and increase palatability, succulent rations are juicy and fresh and increase production, bulky ration have a lot of fiber.

Some diets require live food so a supply must be available.

Feed analysis - the process of determining the nutrients in a feedstuff or prepared mixed feed. Labels on feed containers often report some of the information.

1. Dry Matter - the weight of feed materials after moisture has been removed. Feed quality is based on the proportion of water in feed. Silage has much higher water than No. 2 Yellow Corn.

2. Crude Protein - nitrogen content of feed multiplied by 6.25 (a constant factor). Higher crude protein is typically more nutritious.

3. Fat - determined by using an ether extract process, it is dissolved and the remaining feed material is weighed, then the percentage of fat is calculated.

4. Ash - residue that remains after feed has been burned at a temperature of 600 degrees C.

5. Crude fiber - determined by boiling the feed material in an acid and using lab procedures to dry the feed. The weight before and after drying is determined and used to calculate percent.

6. Nitrogen-free extract (NFE) - determined by subtracting the percentage of water, crude protein, ether extract, ash, and crude fiber from 100.

7. Nutrients - Examples: calcium, phosphorus, and copper

Why are these amounts important to know for the feed?

How Animals Are Fed

Free access - or free choice is allowing animals to eat feed whenever they want. The feed is provided in feeders and is always available. Hay is commonly fed free access to cattle. Hogs can be fed concentrates free access because they will not overeat. Cattle to not receive concentrates free access because they WILL overeat. Water should be provided free access as well.

Scheduled feeding is providing feed at certain times of the day. It is commonly used with cattle because they will overeat, dairy cows are fed at milking time so they can each be given an individual ration.

Baby fish are known as fry and are fed once every hour because they digestive systems are small and will not hold much food. They are unable to store much energy and need to be fed frequently.

Computer feeding systems are becoming more popular with cattle and hogs. Computerized chips can be placed in ear tags or under the skin in the ear which reads the personal ID number and places an amount of feed into a feeding trough.

Balancing Rations

Using Nutrition Information

Protein and energy are the nutrients in greatest amounts in rations. Protein is stated as crude protein and is given as a percent or in grams. Who has the highest protein needs?

young, lactating, and pregnant animals

Energy comes from carbs, fats, and some proteins. Energy is stated as total digestible nutrients (TDN) and is measured in calories which is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree C. Most animals require a large number of calories each day. Calories in feed are stated as kilocalorie (kcal) or megacalorie (Mcal)

Partial Daily Nutrient Needs of Selected Animals

Weight (kg)

Digestible Energy

Calcium

Crude Protein

Mature working horse (such as roping cattle)

900 36.2 (Mcal)

44 (g) 10.4%

Colt (weanling, 6 months) 335 23.4 (Mcal)

44 (g) 14.5%

Swine (weaned) 20 3,230 (kcal)

-- 18.0%

Swine (pregnant sow) 140 3,340 (kcal)

-- 12.0%

Cow (dairy, lactating, and pregnant

450 19.9 (Mcal)

30 (g) 973 (g)

Rabbit (maintenance, adult)

2 4,200 (kcal)

-- 12.0%

Chicken (4 wk. old broiler) 0.5 -- 0.9% 20.0%

Selected Nutrient Needs

Mcal=1,000,000 calories and kcal = 1,000 caloriesTo convert kg to pounds, multiply kg by 2.2046.

Examples of Nutrient Content of Selected Feedstuffs

Feed Dry Matter %

Crude Protein %

Fat %

Ash %

NFE %

TDN %

DE (Mcal/kg)

Alfalfa hay (mid-bloom)

91 17.1 3.3 7.8 37.4 52 2.46

Bermudagrass (fresh)

29 4.2 0.6 3.3 13.0 17 0.77

Clover (fresh) 18 4.4 0.9 1.9 8.1 13 0.60

Millet (fresh) 29 2.8 0.9 2.5 13.4 18 0.77

Sorghum fodder 90 6.2 2.0 8.9 47.4 51 2.24

Wheat Straw 90 3.2 1.8 6.9 40.4 40 1.90

Barley grain 88 11.7 1.7 2.4 67.7 75 3.41Corn #2 87 8.9 4.0 1.2 71.3 80 3.47

CSM 93 41.2 4.7 6.1 28.9 70 3.27

SBM 89 44.4 1.5 6.4 30.6 76 1.45

Molasses (black strap)

74 4.3 0.2 9.8 59.7 60 2.68

Nutritional information about feeds is used to formulate rations. the amount of each nutrient is figured into the ration. This is based on the nutrient requirements of the animal. The info. tells how much roughage, concentrate, and supplement is needed. This is done with a calculator or with a computer program. Feed specialists formulate rations for specific needs.

Feedstuffs are also selected to give the least cost ration. More core may be in a ration if it costs less than barley as an example. Manufactured feeds are made to contain specific nutrients and have labels attached to feed containers with this information as well as the name and address of the manufacturers. Often times, you will find a bar code which is used in tracking the feed.

Using the Pearson Square Method

Pearson Square method is a simple way to calculate a ration for a specific animal and can also be used to calculate ingredients for batches of feed. The method is satisfactory with some animal production, but it can cause a deficiency in minerals and vitamins.

You must have info. on the nutrient needs of the animal (taken from feeding standards tables) and the nutrient content of the feed (taken from feed composition tables).

The feedstuffs chosen must be appropriate and practical. It is possible to calculate a ration that is impractical, such as one based on an animal eating a greater quantity of low-quality roughage than it can possibly hold.

Review for this section is due: 8:30 on Wednesday

Test for this section is: Thursday

Attachments

Pearson Square.jpg