Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, sheep, , and . "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves (called forage). Fodder includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and Compound feed, oils and mixed rations, and sprouting grains and (such as , fresh malt, or spent malt). Most animal feed is from plants, but some manufacturers add ingredients to processed feeds that are of animal origin.
The worldwide animal feed trade produced 1.245 billion tons of compound feed in 2022 according to an estimate by the International Feed Industry Federation,
Common plants specifically grown for fodder
Types
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Biochar for cattle
[:Mr Pow said his innovative farming system could help livestock producers become more profitable while helping to address the impact of climate change.]
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Bran
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Conserved forage plants: hay and silage
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Compound feed and premixes, often called pellets, nuts or (cattle) cake
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Crop residues: stover, copra, straw, chaff, sugar beet waste
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Fish meal
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Freshly cut grass and other forage plants
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Grass or lawn clipping waste
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Green maize
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Green sorghum
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Horse gram
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Leaves from certain species of trees
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Meat and bone meal (now illegal in cattle and sheep feeds in many areas due to risk of BSE)
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Molasses
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Native green grass
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Oilseed press cake (cottonseed, safflower, sunflower, soybean, peanut)
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Processed insects (i.e. processed Maggot farming
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Seaweed (including Asparagopsis taxiformis which is used mainly as a supplement to reduce methane emissions by up to 90%)
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and , either whole or prepared by crushing, milling, etc.
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Single cell protein
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Sprouted grains and legumes
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Yeast extract (brewer's yeast residue)
Health concerns
In the past, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease") spread through the inclusion of ruminant meat and bone meal in
cattle feed due to
prion contamination. This practice is now banned in most countries where it has occurred. Some animals have a lower tolerance for spoiled or moldy fodder than others, and certain types of molds,
, or poisonous weeds inadvertently mixed into a feed source may cause economic losses due to sickness or death of the animals. The US Department of Health and Human Services regulates drugs of the Veterinary Feed Directive type that can be present within commercial livestock feed.
Droughts
Increasing intensities and frequencies of drought events put rangeland agriculture under pressure in semi-arid and arid geographic areas. Innovative emergency fodder production concepts have been reported, such as bush-based animal fodder production in Namibia. During extended dry periods, some farmers have used woody biomass fibre from encroacher bush as their primary source of cattle feed, adding locally-available supplements for nutrients as well as to improve palatability.
Sprouted grains as fodder
Fodder in the form of
Sprouting cereal grains such as
barley, and
can be grown in commercial quantities. Sprouted grains can significantly increase the nutritional value of the grain compared with feeding the ungerminated grain to stock.
They use less water than traditional forage, making them ideal for drought conditions. Sprouted barley and other cereal grains can be grown
Hydroponics in a carefully-controlled environment.
Hydroponically-grown sprouted fodder at tall with a root mat is at its peak for animal feed. Although barley is a grain, barley sprouts are approved by the American Grassfed Association as livestock feed.
See also
Works cited
Further reading
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Zhou, Yiqin. Comparison Fresh or Ensiled Fodders (e.g., Grass, Legume, Corn) on the Production of Greenhouse Gases Following Enteric Fermentation in Beef Cattle. Rouyn-Noranda, Qué.: Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 2011. N.B.: Research report.
External links
