Cattle feed: types

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

When breeding livestock in domestic or industrial conditions, it is very important to make the right diet, since the amount of milk produced by cows and the quality of meat depend on the quality of nutrition. Feed for livestock must be selected based on their age and the amount of milk given. This is the only way to achieve maximum industry productivity at minimum financial cost.

General information

Cattle have a peculiar structure and functioning of the digestive system, so their diet requires special attention. The stomach consists of several chambers in which a multi-stage digestion of food takes place, due to which useful substances are better absorbed. For animals in this group, foods of plant origin are best suited, such as various grains, succulent and roughage types of feed, and some types of industrial waste.

Juicy livestock feed introducedcrops in which the moisture content is extremely high. These include silage mixes, fresh grass, some crops, and many others. Hay and straw are used to feed livestock in winter as they are very nutritious.

A mandatory component of a complete diet of cattle, necessary to achieve maximum performance of animals, are grain feed. They contain a large amount of nutrients and beneficial macronutrients. It can be cake and various combined feeds for livestock rich in vitamins and minerals.

In order for the milk produced by cows and the meat to be of high quality, it is very important that the animal receives feed of animal origin as it contains vitamins B, A, D and E1. To do this, bone meal is added to ordinary feed.

Today, the following types of feed are used in cattle breeding:

• green feed;
• hay and straw;
• crops;
• concentrated feed;
• cereals;
• humane and branch feed;
• silo;
• compound feed.

To understand how to formulate a diet for livestock, you need to have a detailed understanding of each type of feed and their nutritional properties.

Green feed

Green feed for livestock is a grass that has grown naturally in meadows and pastures, as well as various forage crops that are grown specificallyfor feeding animals. The feed of this group has a large amount of nutrients, vitamins and macroelements, and is also excellently digested and assimilated by livestock. Young green grass is considered the most valuable forage, because it contains the most useful and nutritious substances, and as the grass grows, their amount decreases significantly.

Grass for livestock feed should be selected based on the composition. It should contain a lot of vitamins, phosphorus, proteins and calcium. If low quality grass is used, then legumes such as clover, peas, alfalfa and others should be added to the diet of animals. The daily ration of an adult cow is 70 kilograms of feed. With good nutrition, meat and milk will be of high quality.

Hay

In winter, there is no grass on pastures, so hay is harvested to feed livestock. This feed plays a very important role in the diet of cattle. Hay has a positive effect on the normal functioning of the digestive system. The nutritional value of hay largely depends on the type of grass that was used for harvesting. The most valuable are clover, alfalfa and sainfoin.

When harvesting hay for the winter, it is very important not to overdry the grass, as this will lead to a very strong decrease in the content of nutrients and nutrients in the feed. In addition, when drying grass and further storing hay, it is not recommended to allow it to get wet in the rain, so the food should be stored in a speciallydesignated place. With proper harvesting and storage of hay, it will retain all the necessary nutrients and vitamins.

Root crops and gourds

Various varieties of beets, potatoes, pumpkins, rutabaga, carrots and some other vegetable crops are perfect as feed for cattle. These cultures are dietary and contribute to the reproduction of high quality milk. Animals eat them with great pleasure, because they make them hungry, which favorably affects the use of other types of feed.

Root crops and gourds will not completely make up a complete diet for livestock, but they will be an excellent addition to other feeds, especially in the first months after a cow calves. In addition, these types of livestock feed are simply indispensable when feeding animals in the winter. Although they contain small amounts of vitamins and minerals, they are not very well consumed by livestock, nevertheless they contribute to higher milk yields and improved milk quality.

As for root crops, potatoes for livestock feed, carrots and beets are perfect. Depending on how much milk a cow gives, the average daily intake of these products is about 20 kilograms. These crops are high in water, sugar, starch and other minerals needed by livestock.

Concentrated feed

Concentrated feed includes cereals, bran, and waste,derived from the production of flour. They contain many nutrients, so if you add them to the diet of livestock, then the nutritional value and quality of milk and meat greatly increases. Concentrated legumes are rich in protein, so it is best to add them to the diet of those breeds of livestock that give high milk yields.

Cereal feed

Cereals such as oats and barley are classified as dietary feed because their carotene content is much lower than that of cereals. Therefore, if you use them as the main feed for livestock, then you should add legumes, soybeans, grains, and other feeds that contain a lot of protein.

Hamen and branch feeds

This group of feeds includes straw of spring crops, which, by and large, is a low-quality hay. Despite the fact that straw contains significantly less nutrients, vitamins and fiber, it is nevertheless excellent as a winter feed for livestock with low and medium productive capacity. For livestock producing large milk yields, straw should be mixed with bran, bagasse, silage, or various root crops. This will significantly increase the nutritional value of the feed. As for branch feed for cattle, coniferous branches, from which vitamin flour is made, are well suited.

Silos

Silage is very widely used for feeding cattle in many regions because ithas high nutritional value and low price. This type of feed is able to fully provide the animals with all the nutrients and nutrients needed to obtain a large and high-quality milk yield in the winter.

This type of feed is obtained by lactic fermentation of a special mass, which takes place in a tank closed from air. For the manufacture of silage, tops of various agricultural crops, meadow grass, cabbage leaves, green mass of sunflower and corn, as well as various legumes are used. During fermentation, the food is saturated with lactic acid and sugar. The more of these substances in the silage, the better the quality of the feed. Depending on what the silage was made from, this feed can be easily digestible or difficult to digest. The highest quality is the combined silage, which is made from both types of silage, mixed in a ratio of 1 to 1. This feed is very nutritious and has a positive effect on the quality of reproduced milk. Grain can also be added to the silage to feed livestock to provide it with the necessary amount of fiber and make nutrition more complete.

Combined feeds

Combination feeds are considered one of the most versatile and high quality types of feed for cattle, as they are made to meet all the rules, regulations and requirements for a complete animal diet, which ensures maximum livestock performance. They contain the optimal set of vitamins,minerals and nutrients needed by an adult cow for a day.

The nutritional properties of feed are determined by their dry matter content. If compound feed is produced on the basis of products with a high moisture content, then the dry matter in it should be no more than three kilograms for every 100 kg of live weight of the animal. If cattle are kept in a stall without meadow grazing, then it is better to use mixed feed of coarse varieties for feeding them. Waste for livestock feed resulting from production is also excellent. This is quite enough to provide livestock with high-quality nutritious food. At the same time, the daily rate of combined feed depends on how much milk a cow gives per day. At low milk yields, about 5 kilograms of feed will be sufficient, and for cows with an average milk yield, the rate should be increased to eight kilograms.

A few words about proper feeding of livestock

Ration formulation is not the only thing that affects livestock performance. It is very important to adhere to the correct feeding regimen. Cattle are recommended to provide three meals a day. In the morning and in the afternoon, it is better to give cereals and feed containing a large amount of moisture, and in the evening, coarse bait should be used for feeding.

Conclusion

Cows with high productivity should receive good nutrition, since not only the quality and quantity of milk, but also the productivity of livestock as a whole depends on it. With a poor diet, such cows can permanently lose their productivity. Therefore, it is very important to graze them in the meadow in the summer so that the livestock gets young grass for food, and in winter it is very important to make a high-quality diet for the animal, which will include foods and feeds rich in vitamins, minerals and macronutrients.