Agriculture is impossible to imagine without livestock. Here we can distinguish goat breeding, poultry farming, horse breeding, cattle breeding (dairy, meat, dairy and meat), sheep breeding, rabbit breeding, pig breeding, beekeeping, dog breeding and other less common industries. And if a person decided to engage in animal husbandry, then for a start he needs to think through what he will feed his farm. For this purpose, forage crops of plants are quite suitable. They can be grown independently and not to spend money on the purchase of products for animals. It is about plants that can become fodder, now we will talk.
Let's start with the most famous.
Feed crops. List of plants considered in the article
- Stern watermelon.
- Feed pumpkin.
- Feed zucchini.
- Rye.
- Barley.
- Oats
- Soya.
- Lupine.
Gourds
Melon fodder crops are, first of all, watermelon, zucchini and pumpkin.
Feed watermelon
This is an annual plant of the pumpkin family. The mass of its fruit is from 10 to 30 kg. These fruits are fed to livestock in fresh or silage form. Feed watermelon contains proteins (0.3 kg per 100 kg of product), carbohydrates that are easily digested, i.e. glucose, fructose and sucrose, folic acid, pectin (0.36-0.75 kg per 100 kg of product), and vitamins D, A, C, B and iron.
Fodder pumpkin
This plant also belongs to the pumpkin family and is an annual. The weight of the fetus reaches 30 kg.
The fruits of this plant have a lot of sugar (12 kg per 100 kg of product), proteins (0.4 kg per 100 kg of fruit), vitamins E, PP, C, as well as provitamin A.
This product is great as a feed for cows, pigs and chickens. For the former, it increases the fat content of milk and increases its quantity, while the latter, when eating pumpkin, begin to carry more eggs.
Feed squash
Gourds are also zucchini. They sing earlier than the plants listed above, which is their undoubted advantage. Moreover, they can even be fed to animals immature, pre-steamed or chopped.
Zucchini - melon fodder crops that contain proteins in the amount of 0.7-1 kg per 100 kg of product. These substances are present not only in fruits, but also in the tops of plants (0.8 kg per 100 kg).
Cereal forage crops
This group primarily includes rye, barley and oats. All cereal fodder crops have several disadvantages. This low content of calcium, necessary for the normal development of the animal, as well as the relatively low digestibility of the proteins contained in the grains.
Rye
100 kg of grain of this plant contains 10.1 kg of protein, 2.3 kg of fiber, 1.9 kg of fat, 66.1 kg of BEV (nitrogen-free extractives), 1.8 kg of ash, and 16 kg of water.
Rye animals do not like to eat in large quantities. This is due to the tart taste that it has. Also, eating too much rye can lead to digestive disorders. This is especially true for freshly harvested grains. Therefore, in the diet of cattle or pigs, the amount of rye eaten should not exceed 30% of the total amount of food.
In addition, one should take into account the fact that the grains of this plant contain a rather small amount of digestible proteins. This should be offset by the presence of protein-rich foods in the diet, for example, it may be bean fodder crops.
Barley
100 kg of barley grains contain 10.8 kg of protein, 4.8 kg of fiber, 2.2 kg of fat, 65.6 kg of BEV, 2.8 kg of ash and 13 kg of water.
This plant has a lot of disadvantages. These may include low levels of calcium, phosphorus, vitamins, as well as insufficient protein content. The amount of fiber, on the contrary, is increased, so this food should be used only in combination with products in which this substance is not enough (wheat, corn).
However, despite all the negative aspects, barley is widely used as feed for farm animals, as it helps to make meat and milk better.
Young piglets can be given grains of this plant in a fried form, and pigs - in a crushed form. Dairy cows are often fed barley tar or flour.
Oats
100 kg of oats contain 9.1 kg of protein, 10.4 kg of fiber, 4.9 kg of fat, 57.3 kg of BEV, 4 kg of ash and 13 kg of water.
The film of oat grains contains a very large amount of fiber, which affects the digestibility of this product.
This feed is considered standard for horses. In the diet of cattle and pigs, it can be 40%, poultry - 30%. However, it should not be given to dairy cows during the period of oil production, as well as to pigs at the last stage of fattening.
Legumes as feed for farm animals
Bean forage crops, names which everyone knows, is soy and lupine.
The grains of each of these plants have a huge amount of protein. This is especially true for soy.
The chemical composition of the beans is approximately the same. For 100 kg of soybeans, 33.6 kg of protein, 5.7 kg of fiber, 17.4 kg of fat, 26.8 kg of BeV, 4.6 kg of ash and 11 kg of water. 100 kg of lupine contains 27.5 kg of protein, 5.3 kg of fat, 12.8 kg of fiber, 35.8 kg of BEV, 2.7 kg of ash and 14 kg of water.
Forage crops, the list of which is given above, are valuable not only for their high protein content, but also for a large number of amino acids, B vitamins and ascorbic acid, calcium, phosphorus, copper, iron and zinc.
But despite their nutrition and benefits, the percentage of legumes in the diet should not exceed 25%, since an excess of this product causes problems with the gastrointestinal tract, including bloating, and can also cause a miscarriage in a pregnant female.
The most common and commonly used bean fodder plant is soy. It has a large number of proteins that are close to animals, as well as amino acids that ensure normal metabolism in livestock.
It is recommended to use these beans as food for birds only after having previously subjected them to heat treatment. However, it should be noted that the use of too high temperatures leads to a decrease in the quality of the product. Cattle can be given raw soybean grains.
Lupine has three varieties: white, yellow, and blue. Yellow and white varieties are sweet, they differ from blue in lower alkaloids (0.002-0.12 kg per 100 kg of product, in contrast to 3.87 kg in blue). The greatest amount of protein among the three species is yellow lupine. Also, all varieties of this plant contain essential amino acids that the animal body does not produce on its own. These grains also have vitamins and minerals.
The best option is to use lupine beans as feed for pigs that have a lot of potatoes in their diets. The disadvantage of this feed crop can be considered a high fiber content, which should be taken into account when calculating the amount of this feed in the diet of farm animals. In the menu of young piglets, lupine beans should make up no more than 18-20% of all food, adult pigs - no more than 12%.
When deciding to introduce this food into the animal’s diet, one should also pay attention to the fact that due to the content of alkaloids in it, it gives the milk and butter a bitter taste. Also, the intake of these substances in large quantities can cause digestive disorders. You can prevent these negative effects by pre-treating the beans. To get rid of alkaloids, lupine grains need to be soaked in cold water, then steamed for an hour and rinsed again. Processed food must be used within a day, otherwise it will deteriorate.
However, the disadvantages of this plant associated with the content of alkaloids are now eliminated by breeding varieties whose grains almost do not contain these substances.