Many types of animal feed ingredients or animal feedstuffs are available to supply the nutritional needs of livestock. These feedstuffs are the raw materials that are converted into animal cells, tissues, organs, and products.

A familiarity with the chemical and nutritional composition of the various classes of feedstuffs is essential in order to formulate the most economical and profitable rations.

It is also important to be familiar with the various feedstuff types to plan for planting, harvesting, and storage of homegrown feedstuffs. Proper preservation of stored feedstuffs is a critical profitability factor for some types of farms and ranches.

Feed is any Edible material which is consumed by animals and contribute energy and/or nutrients to the animal‘s diet. (Usually refers to animals rather than man (AAFCO, 2000).

Concentrates are feeds that contain a high density of nutrients, usually low in crude fibre content (less than 18% of dry matter (DM)) and high in total digestible nutrients.

Concentrates may be high in energy, referred to as energy concentrates, such as cereals and milling by-products, or high in protein, with over 20% crude protein, referred to as protein concentrates.

Concentrates may be fed in raw or milled forms as individual feeds (sometimes referred to as straights), or maybe blended or formulated into balanced rations for particular production purposes (compound feeds).

Compound feeds may be mixed on-farm but are also produced by the commercial feed compounding industry. Available published data on compound feeds mainly refer to the latter.

Animal Feedstuffs Raw Materials for Concentrate Feeds

Raw materials for concentrate feeds are commonly classified into the following categories:

Cereals: the main cereals are rice, wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, sorghum and millet.

Grains: all cereals except rice.

Coarsegrains: all cereals except wheat and rice.

Foodgrains: grains used for human food consumption.

Feedgrains: unmilled grains to be used as livestock feeds

Milling by-products: by-products from the milling of cereals and pulses, such as brans and pollards.

Feed-grainsubstitutes: dried roots and tubers (chiefly cassava and sweet potatoes), or by-products of crop processing such as molasses, maize gluten feed, distillery and brewery grains, dried citrus pulp etc.

In some classifications, ‘roots and tubers’ are classed separately while the latter kinds of feeds may be regarded as ‘other concentrates’ or ‘non-conventional concentrates’.

Oil meals and cakes: products of oilseeds (including copra, cotton seed, groundnuts, linseed, palm kernel, rapeseed, sunflower seed and soyabeans) and fish after extraction of their oil component either by expeller methods (oilcakes) or solvent- extraction methods (oil meals).

Otherconcentrates: other energy or protein concentrates including processed livestock products (inedible fats and oils, meat, blood and bone meal and milk products) and industrial products such as urea and single-cell protein.

Non-conventional feeds and processed harvested forages: these include a variety of feeds not widely used in commercial livestock diets; some may be considered as concentrate feeds after processing, such as dried lucerne (alfalfa) leaf meal, dried cassava leaf, cassava pulp, processed pea and bean meals, sal and rubber seed meals, citrus pulp wastes and others.

1. Energy Concentrates (Grains and By-Product Feeds)

The main nutrient contribution of grains and by-product feeds is energy. Oats and barley are moderately high in CP. Processing grain (rolling, crimping, cracking, or grinding) increases its digestibility when fed to cows.

As much as 30 percent of the whole grain will pass through cows intact if the grain is not processed before feeding. Breaking the seed coat increases digestion.

Coarse-textured, processed grain enhances palatability and intake. Fine grinding of grain can increase digestibility, but can also lower milk fat percent and cause rumen acidosis.

Pelleted grain is not dusty, and may increase palatability and intake, but has the same disadvantages as finely ground grain on rumen fermentation. Because young animals chew their feed more thoroughly than adults, whole grains can be fed up to 12 months of age.

Barley is a good source of energy and protein. If barley is used in large amounts in dairy cattle rations, cattle should be adjusted gradually. Rolling is superior to fine grinding for palatability. If barley is finely ground, it shouldn’t make up more than 50 percent of the grain ration.

Beet pulp can be obtained either in plain form or as molasses beet pulp. It is relatively high in energy, adds highly digestible fiber and bulk to diets, and enhances palatability. Maximum feeding rate is 30 percent of the ration DM.

Cottonseed, whole or fuzzy, is a medium protein, high fat, high fiber, and high energy feed. Whole cottonseed is white and fuzzy, while de-linted cottonseed is black and smooth in appearance. The amount fed should not exceed 7 pounds per cow per day.

Corn glut n feed is a relatively high fiber, medium energy, medium protein by-product of the corn wet milling industry. The by-product is sold as either a dry or wet product. Corn gluten feed (wet or dry) should not exceed 25 percent of the total ration DM.

Corn, ear or corn and cob meal is a relatively high energy feed relished by cows. It contains 10 percent less energy than shelled corn. However, the fiber supplied by the cob aids in maintaining fat test and keeping cows on feed.

Corn, shelled is the most common grain fed to dairy animals. It is one of the highest energy feeds available for use in dairy rations. Where corn can be grown successfully, it is generally an economical source of energy.

Because of its high caloric density, good management (determining the amount to feed, frequency of feeding, mixing with other feeds, etc.) is needed to obtain maximum consumption without causing digestive disturbances.

Corn, high moisture offers these advantages:

1. Grain can be harvested 2 to 3 weeks earlier, reducing field losses and harvest problems associated with adverse weather.

2. Storage and handling losses are reduced.

3. It fits automated feeding programs.

4. The expense of drying grain is eliminated.

5. Grain is highly palatable.

6. Daily labor of grain processing or grinding is reduced.

High moisture ear corn should be stored from 28 to 32 percent moisture and processed prior to storage. The wet cob is more digestible than the cob in dry corn.

High moisture shelled corn should be stored within a moisture content of 25 to 30 percent. In airtight silos, the shelled corn can be stored whole or ground, and rolled upon removal from the silo.

In conventional silos, bags or bunkers, it should be processed (ground or rolled) before storing. Propionic acid can be used effectively to treat and preserve high moisture corn for dairy cattle.

Hominy feed is a fine, dusty ground corn feed from which the bran and gluten have been removed. It is the by-product from the manufacture of hominy grits.

Fat content is generally about twice that of corn grain, but quite variable. Hominy can replace corn in the diet, but is low in starch.

Fat is a concentrated energy source. Several kinds of animal and vegetable fats or oils are available for feeding. Amounts to feed and responses from feeding will vary with fatty acid (saturated or unsaturated) composition of the fat.

Total added fat in diets should not exceed 4 percent (DM basis) with animal, vegetable or rumen inert fats individually not exceeding 2 percent.

Molasses (cane and beet) supplies energy and is used primarily to enhance the acceptability of the ration.

The amount used should be limited to 5 to 7 percent of the grain mix (10% in pelleted feeds) to maintain flow characteristics in automatic feeding equipment and to avoid undesirable rumen effects.

Oats contain 15 percent less energy but 20 to 30 percent more protein than shelled corn. The advantage of adding oats to dairy rations is that it adds fiber and bulk, and may help maintain rumen function.

Screenings are often an economical buy. However, they vary in protein and energy

2. Protein concentrate

A human or animal dietary supplement that has a very high protein content and is extracted or prepared from vegetable or animal matter. The most common of such substances are leaf protein concentrate (LPC) and fish protein concentrate (FPC).

LPC is prepared by grinding young leaves to a pulp, pressing the paste, then isolating a liquid fraction containing protein by filter or centrifuge. Herbaceous plants and legumes, such as clover and lucerne, produce higher yields of protein concentrate than perennial grasses.

The protein quality of some LPCs has been found to approach that of the soybean, the most protein-rich of the oilseeds; all LPCs require supplements, however, because they are deficient in two of the nutritionally essential amino acids, lysine and methionine.

FPC, processed directly from fish, is most commonly incorporated in cereal or wheat- based foods as a source of lysine.

FPC flour is made by grinding the fish and adding to it an isopropanol solvent, which separates liquids and solids; the solid material is then extracted by centrifuge, and the process may be repeated several times.

After the final centrifuging, the solid material is dried and ground. The most common of such substances are leaf protein concentrate (LPC) and fish protein concentrate (FPC).

Herbaceous plants and legumes, such as clover and Lucerne, produce higher yields of protein concentrate than perennial grasses.