Feed Nutrients

Nutrient - a chemical element or compound

that aids in the support of life.
• Necessary for cells to live, grow, and function properly.
• Nutrients should be in proper balance.
• Too much of one nutrient and not enough of another may result
in unhealthy stock and high feed costs.
• Animals diff er in the kinds and amounts of nutrients they need.
Five Group of Nutrients
1. Energy nutrients (Carbohydrates and Lipids)
2. Proteins
3. Vitamins
4. Minerals
5. Water
Carbohydrates
• The main energy nutrient found in animal ration.
• Provides energy for the cells. Excess carbs are converted into fats.
• The dry weight of most grains and roughages ranges from 65-80%
carbs.
• The dry weight of a feed refers to its weight with the moisture
content removed.
• Mature roughages contain more fiber than those harvested when
less mature.
• Not easily digested.
• Hay plants harvested at an early stage of maturity have a higher
feed value because they are more easily digested.
Fats and Oils
• Fats are solid at body temperature; Oils are liquid at body
temperature.
• They provide energy, 2.25 times the energy value of carbohydrates.
• They also carry the fat-soluble vitamins that are in the feed.
• Cereal grains such as corn, oats, and wheat range from 1.8 to 4.4
percent fat.
• Animal and vegetable protein concentrates range from 1 to 10.6
percent fat.
Proteins
• Proteins supply material to build body tissues – growth and repair.
• If an animal takes in more protein than it needs, the nitrogen is separated
and given off in the urine.
• The material that is left is converted into energy or body fat by the animal.
• Ruminants can generally synthesize the essential amino acids by rumen
bacterial action at a rate sufficient to meet their needs.
• Nonruminant animals cannot synthesize the essential amino acids fast
enough to meet their needs; therefore, those amino acids must be
provided in their rations.
Proteins
• Crude Protein (CP) - measurement of protein content; calculated as
mineral nitrogen x 6.25 (the assumption is that proteins of typical
animal feeds contain 16% nitrogen in average)
• It may contain materials that are not true protein.
• Not all of the crude protein in a feed is digestible.
• Digestible protein is approximately the amount of true protein in a
feed
• Roughage ration - about 60% of its CP is considered to be digestible.
• High concentrate ration – 75% of its CP is considered to be digestible.
Vitamins
• They are organic compounds needed only in very small amounts by
animals for their growth, production, and maintenance of the body.
• Fat-soluble vitamins can be dissolved in fat.
• Vitamin A is associated with healthy eyes, good conception rate, and
disease resistance
• Vitamin D is associated with good bone development and the mineral
balance of the blood.
• Vitamin E is necessary for normal reproduction and muscle
development.
• Vitamin K helps the blood to clot and prevents excessive bleeding
from injuries.
• Water-soluble vitamins can be dissolved in water.
• Vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins.
B Vitamins
• B1 (Thiamine)
• B2 (Riboflavin)
• B3 (Niacin)
• B5 (Panthotenic acid)
• B6 (Pyridoxine)
• B7 (Biotin)
• B9 (Folate)
• B12 (Cobalamin)
Minerals
• These are inorganic materials needed in various amounts by animals.
Minerals contain no carbon.
• Functions
1. They provide material for the growth of bones, teeth, and tissue.
2. They regulate many of the vital chemical processes of the body.
3. They aid in muscular activities, reproduction, digestion of feed,
repair of body tissues, formation of new tissue, and release of
energy for body heat.
Minerals
• Major minerals are those needed in large amounts.
• Salt (sodium and chlorine), calcium, and phosphorus
• Trace minerals are those needed in small amounts.
• Potassium, sulfur, magnesium, iron, iodine, copper, cobalt, zinc,
manganese, boron, molybdenum, fluorine, and selenium.
Performance Stimulants
Feed Additives
• These are materials used in animal rations to:
1. Improve feed efficiency
2. Promote faster gains
3. Improve animal health
4. Increase production of animal products
• They are often added in small amounts to the basic feed mix.
Antimicrobial Drugs
• They kill or slow down the growth of some kinds of microorganisms.
• The use of these drugs at a lower level in the feed than would be used
for treating sick animals is referred to as a subtherapeutic level of use.
• When livestock are raised in confinement, there is a greater potential
for the spread of harmful microbes among the animals because they
are crowded more closely together; the use of antimicrobial drugs
helps to keep these harmful microbes under control.
• There is little or no benefit gained from the feeding of antibiotics
when livestock are raised under conditions that are free of harmful
microorganisms.
• Commonly used in livestock and poultry ration.
Nutrient Sparing of Antibiotics
• Antibiotics have nutrient sparing activity by allowing animals to use
available nutrients more effectively.
• Some antibiotics stimulate microbes that are present in the digestive
tract to produce more nutrients than they would without the
presence of the antibiotic. Some microbes in the digestive tract
compete for essential nutrients without improving the performance
of the animal; some antibiotics slow down this competition for
essential nutrients.
• An animal must absorb nutrients through the intestinal wall in order
to use them in metabolism; some antibiotics help in the development
of a thin, healthy intestinal wall, which allows for easier absorption of
nutrients
Subclinical Disease
• Disease that are present in the animal’s
body at levels too low to cause visible
effects.
• Under many conditions of farm feeding,
subclinical diseases are present in the
animals being fed.
• When antibiotics are included in the ration, these subclinical
diseases are continuously controlled. As a result, the animal is
healthier and more vigorous.
• Because subclinical diseases are controlled, the rate of gain is more
uniform among groups of animals that are being fed antibiotic
Hormone and Hormone-like Feed
Additives
• Hormones regulate many body functions, such as growth,
metabolism, and the reproductive cycle
• Primarily in beef nutrition.
• Androgens, progestogens, and estrogens
• The first synthetic hormone developed for use in animal feeding
was diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen.
• Controversial use in livestock production – concern for human
health and safety.
Anthelmintics (Dewormers)
• Compounds used to control various species of worms that may
infest animals.
• The presence of worms in the animal’s system reduces feed
efficiency and rate of gain.
• They may be provided to the animal in either feed or water
• An indication of worms in any of the animals in a group, it is safe
to assume that all animals in the group have some level of worm
infestation which indicates the need to treat the entire group of
animals for worm infestation.
Prebiotics and Probiotics
• Prebiotics are nondigestible feed additive that promotes the
growth of beneficial microorganisms in the intestine.
• Probiotics are compounds such as yeasts and lactobacilli that
change the bacterial population in the digestive tract to a
more desirable type.
• In some cases the use of probiotics has improved animal
performance, but the improvement has not been as great as
that obtained by the use of antibiotics
Other Feed Additives
• Coccidiostats prevent the disease coccidiosis, an intestinal
parasitic infection that results in decreased performance and
diarrhea.
• Enzyme feed additives for improvement of digestion.
• Antioxidants may be added to feeds to prevent rancidity.
• Sodium bentonite is sometimes used as a pellet binder when
feeds are pelleted.
• Feed flavors are sometimes added to rations to make the ration
more palatable or to hide the taste of medication being given in
the feed.
Hormone Implants
• These are pelleted synthetic or natural hormones or hormone-
like compounds placed under the skin or in the muscle of the
animal.
• Implants are used to lower production costs by improving both
rate and efficiency of gain.
• Mainly used in beef cattle operations
Feeds and Ration
Roughages
• Feeds that contain more than 18 percent crude fiber when dry
• hay, silage, pasture grasses, and fodder trees
• Two general classes:
1. Legume roughage
- Plants that can take nitrogen from the air.
- Higher protein
- Peanut, mungbean, alfalfa, soybeans, peas, and beans
2. Nonlegume roughage
- Cannot use the nitrogen from the air
- Lower in protein
- Hay, corn silage, fodders, pasture grasses
Concentrates
• Feeds that contain less than 18 percent crude fiber when dry.
• Two general classes:
1. Protein supplement
- Feeds that contain 20 percent or more protein.
- Animal proteins: tankage, meat scraps, meat and bonemeal, fish
meal, dried skimmed milk, dried whole milk, blood meal, and
feather meal.
- Tankage is animal tissues and bones from animal slaughterhouses
and rendering plants that are cooked, dried, and ground.
- They are sometimes used for balancing rations for swine and
poultry since they contain a more balanced amount of the
essential amino acids than do plant proteins.
Concentrates
- Vegetable proteins: soybean meal, cottonseed meal, linseed
oil meal, peanut oil meal, corn gluten feed, brewer’s dried
grains, and dried distiller’s grains.
2. Energy feeds
- Feeds with less than 20 percent crude protein
- Corn, sorghum grain, oats, barley, rye, wheat, ground ear
corn, wheat bran, wheat middlings, dried citrus pulp, dried
beet pulp, and dried whey
Ration
• The amount of feed given to an animal to meet its needs during a 24-
hour period
• A balanced ration is one that has all the nutrients the animal needs in
the right proportions and amounts.
• Diet refers to the ration without reference to a specific time period
• Feed accounts for approximately 75 percent of the total cost of
raising livestock.
• Animal ration should be palatable in order for the animal to eat it.
 Moldy feed is often not palatable.
 Insect and weather damage also lower the palatability of feed.
 Feed is of no value if the animal will not eat it.
Ration
• The ration must meet the nutritional requirements of the animals.
• It is necessary to develop rations that are as economical as possible.
• Feeds used in rations must not be harmful to the animal’s health or
lower the quality of the product.
• Micronutrients and feed additive should be thoroughly mixed to ensure
uniform distribution in the feed.
- Failure to do so may result in one animal getting too much of the
micronutrient or additive while another animal may get too little.
- Excessive amounts of some additives may be harmful to an animal.
• The functions of a ration must be considered when determining the
nutrient requirements of livestock.
Ration Functions
1. Maintenance
2. Growth
3. Finishing
4. Production
5. Reproduction
6. Work
Maintenance
• The primary use of the nutrients in a ration is for maintaining the life
of the animal.
- The animal must have energy for the functioning of the heart, for
breathing, and for other vital body processes.
- Basal metabolism - the minimal amount of energy necessary to
maintain respiration, circulation, and other vital body functions.
- Energy to keep the animal’s body temperature normal.
- Protein in the body tissues breaks down and needs to repair.
- Minerals and vitamins are continually being lost from the body.
- Certain fatty acids are needed for good health.
- Water is required for all bodily activities.
Maintenance
• If the animal is not being fed enough feed, it may need to use its
entire ration for maintenance. Thus, it will have none left for other
activities, such as growth and/or reproduction.
• Normally, about one-half of the ration that is fed to an animal is used
for maintenance.
• An animal on full feed will use about one-third of its ration for
maintenance.
Full feed means to give an animal all it wants to eat.
Growth
• Nutrients in the ration are used for growth only after the
maintenance requirements of the animal are met.
• If they do not grow properly, they will not be productive when they
are mature.
• Animals grow fastest when they are young and the growth rate
slows down as they get older.
• The larger species of animals usually mature slower than the
smaller animals, but the growth rate of larger animals is faster than
that of smaller animals.
Finishing
• Feed nutrients that are not used for maintenance or growth may
be used for fattening.
• Fat is stored in the tissues of the body.
• Fat stored within the muscles is called marbling.
• Marbling helps make meat juicy and good tasting.
• The object of fattening is to obtain the right amount of fat in the
muscle without getting too much fat.
• Feeds that are high in carbohydrates and fats are used for
fattening.
• They are less expensive than protein feeds.
Production
• Animals produce many products that require specific nutrients.
• Cows, swine, horses, sheep, and goats produce milk to feed their
young, while dairy goats and cows also produce milk for human
use.
• Chickens produce eggs and sheep and goats produce wool and
mohair.
Reproduction
• Proper nutrition is required for reproduction.
• An animal may become sterile if it does not get an adequate level
of nutrients.
• Nutrition is extremely important for pregnant animals needing
additional amounts of nutrients during pregnancy.
• Most of the growth of the fetus takes place during the last third of
the pregnancy.
Work
• Livestock may be used to perform work. For example, horses do
work when they are ridden.
• The energy needed for work comes from carbohydrates, fats, and
extra protein in the ration.
• The animal may use fat stored in the body for work if the ration
does not provide enough nutrients.
• Animals sweat more when they work and it needs extra salt to
make up for that lost by sweating.