Farm animals vary widely not only in their types but also in their feeding habits, which are closely related to the structure of their gastrointestinal system, the type of food they eat, and the purpose of keeping them.
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Classification Based on Stomach Structure and Feeding Habits
1. Ruminants
Ruminants are hoofed, even-toed mammals of the suborder Ruminantia that have a stomach divided into four compartments (rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum) and are known for chewing cud. This compartmentalized stomach allows ruminants to digest fibrous materials such as grasses, leaves, and shrubs.
The breakdown of these materials occurs through fermentation by microorganisms (bacteria and protozoa), which produce short-chain fatty acids (VFAs) like acetic, propionic, and butyric acids.
Ruminants consume their food quickly and store it in the rumen for later digestion.
Examples include cattle, sheep, goats, deer, and giraffes. Some species, such as camels and chevrotains, have three-chambered stomachs. Other examples of ruminants are llamas, bison, buffalo, and antelope.
Key advantages of ruminant digestion include:
-i. Microbial fermentation provides useful by-products like VFAs and B vitamins.
-ii. Microbes utilize ammonia and other nitrogenous substances to synthesize microbial protein.
-iii. Efficient digestion of coarse feed due to mechanical breakdown during rumination.
-iv. Gas produced during fermentation is released through belching.
-v. The large volume of saliva helps buffer ruminal contents and assists in mixing during contractions.
-vi. Toxins in the diet may be detoxified during fermentation before being absorbed in the small intestine.
2. Non-Ruminants
Non-ruminants have simple stomachs and do not chew cud. They feed on grasses and other materials, but their digestive processes differ from ruminants. Some non-ruminants exhibit a behavior called “coprophagy,” where they re-ingest special soft feces to pass food through the digestive system a second time, allowing for more complete digestion.
This behavior helps them compensate for the disadvantage of having cellulose fermentation located in the posterior part of the intestinal tract. Coprophagy is commonly seen in animals like rabbits and hares.
Hindgut fermentation in animals such as horses and rodents occurs in the cecum, where symbiotic microorganisms break down cellulose. Some birds have large ceca for similar fermentation processes.
Certain non-ruminants, like the langur monkey and quokka, have multiple-compartment stomachs, but they do not regurgitate or re-chew their food like ruminants.
3. Monogastric Farm Animals
Monogastric animals have simple stomachs without compartments, similar to humans. They require feed with more expensive and high-quality ingredients, particularly protein-enriched feed, to meet their nutritional needs.
Examples include pigs and poultry, such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Pigs are omnivorous, consuming both plant and animal tissues, and their diet may include non-cereal feed resources such as sugarcane by-products, cassava roots, and household waste. Poultry are often fed specific diets to influence the characteristics of their products, such as egg yolk color.
Classification Based on Type of Food Eaten
1. Herbivores: Herbivores are ruminant and non-ruminant animals that primarily feed on plant materials. They maintain continuous fermentation and absorption in specific parts of the digestive system where cellulose-containing materials are broken down.
2. Carnivores: Carnivores are farm animals that obtain their food by consuming other animals. Their digestion relies mainly on enzymes rather than microorganisms. While microbial digestion of cellulose may occur in the colon of carnivores, it is minimal and not essential for survival.
3. Omnivores: Omnivores are farm animals that feed on both plants and animals, with digestion primarily involving enzymes similar to carnivores. Pigs, for example, are omnivorous but under domestication, their diet consists largely of plant material. Their digestion includes microbial breakdown of plant materials in the large intestine and stomach.
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Classification Based on the Purpose of Keeping Farm Animals
1. Beef Animals: These animals are primarily raised for meat production. Examples include beef cattle, goats, sheep, broilers, turkeys, and geese.
2. Dairy Animals: Farm animals that are kept primarily for milk production are classified as dairy animals. Cows are the most common example.
3. Work Animals: These animals are raised primarily for providing farm labor or as a source of power. Examples include bulls, mules, bullocks, and buffaloes.
4. Egg-Laying Animals: Egg-laying animals are primarily kept for egg production. Poultry, such as hens, are common examples.
In this article, it has been established that farm animals can be classified based on their feeding habits, the type of food they consume, and the purpose of keeping them.
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