Livestock Feedstuff Classification

• Feedstuff classification is based on general properties and contains more than one nutrient.
• The three classifications are energy feeds, protein supplements, roughages, and additives.

Energy Feedstuffs

• Have low fiber and high energy.
• Consist of readily digested carbohydrates (starches/sugars) and lipids and contain high total digestible energy, low-moderate protein, and low fiber.
• Most commonly used for rapidly growing or finishing animals and form the basis of swine and poultry diets.
• Energy feedstuffs add energy to the diet.
• Consist of cereal grains like corn or oats, grain-by-products like dried distilled grains, roots or tubers like beat pulp, liquid feeds like molasses, and fats or oils like tallow or soy oil.

Cereal Grains

• Usually high yield and mainly intended for human consumption because of the price.
• Cereal grains include corn, sorghum, barley, oats, rye and rice.
• Cereal grains have high phosphorus content, low calcium, and small amounts of mineral and vitamin content.
• Cereal grains are graded based on moisture, contaminants, and damaged kernels.
• Cereal grains consist of carbohydrates that are mostly in the form of starch in the endosperm, but also have cellulose fiber in the hulls and bran.
• The outermost protective layer of the grain is called the hull and is high in fiber.
• The next protective layer is called the bran and is made up of fiber and protein.
• The endosperm is the energy source for the plant with high starch and some protein.
• The germ, or the seed embryo, is high in fat with some protein and vitamins.
• Tend to have low crude protein, with changeable fiber content depending on the type. Oat has the most fiber while wheat has the least.

Corn

• Important grains due to the highest digestible energy per unit of land and minimal nutritional problems.
• Is very digestible and palatable, with around 9% crude protein
• Can produce mycotoxins, which are compounds produced in grains by molds that can be toxic.
• There are around 300-400 mycotoxins that have been identified, with only a few known to be harmful.
• Examples of mycotoxins are aflatoxin, fumonisin, deoxynivalenol, ochratoxin, and zearalenone.
• Aflatoxin is an aspergillus mold that is caused by drought stressed corn with periods of high humidity.
• Fumonisin is a fusarium mold that is very toxic to species like horses.

Sorghum

• Or milo, typically yields less than but is considered heat and drought resistant along with a resistance to root worm and corn borer.
• It is highly adaptable to a variety of soil types.
• Requires more processing because of the hard seed coat.

Wheat

• Important crop because of the wide human consumption
• Only some livestock feed on wheat because of the usually high price.
• Categorized by the growth habit (spring or winter growth), kernel color (red, white or amber kernel) and kernel texture (hard or soft lol.)
• Has 10-13% higher crude protein with similar digestible energy to corn digestible energy because of rapid fermentation but can lead to digestible upset in rumen.

Barley

• Grown in cooler climate and is used mainly for livestock feed with some human use being for the brewing industry.
• Pretty palatable with more protein lysine, methane, tryptophan than corn, but has a lower feeding value than corn.
• Hulls, or outermost layers, are steam rolled to improve digestibility because of the toughness.
• Has lower starch and higher fiber content which produces a lower digestible energy value.

Oats

• Oats consist of lower yield than any other grain
• The protein is high with 11-14% crude protein, but the fiber content is anywhere from 28-45% causing poor digestion by monogastrics.
• The start content is the lowest which is ideal for ruminants and hindgut fermenters, but may not provide enough energy for growing animals.

Lipids

• Can either be fats (solid at room temperature) or oil (liquid at room temperature) which is determined by fatty acid makeup. Fatty acids are used as an energy source.
• Lipids contribute to the cell membrane, and help form hormones and prostaglandins.
• Essential fatty acids are linoleic and linolenic acids.
• Lipids are used exclusively as an energy source with small amounts of protein, vitamins and minerals.
• Lipids are highly digestible and improve palatability while reducing dustiness. They increase the absorption of fat soluble vitamins.
• Adding fat can improve palatability and energy intake in small amounts and too much can reduce feed consumption
• Lipids used in ruminant diets are often known as bypass fats which minimizes impact of fat on microbes
• Lipid comes from a variety of sources including animal, plant, and blended together. Beef, poultry, and pork is from processing facilities.
• Blended feed grade fat is blends of tallow, grease, poultry, and restaurant grease.
• Plant oil comes from feed grade vegetable fat that is a product of vegetable oil, vegetable soap stock and other refinery by-products.
• The blended animal and plant fats is a mixture of tallow, grease, poultry, restaurant grease and vegetable fat.
• The only concern with lipids would be subject to oxidation which causes reduced palatability and digestive issues with farmers add an antioxidant.

Protein Feedstuffs

• Are low in fiber and high in protein with less than 20% crude protein. The AA is variable quality and has variable ingredient availability.
• Protein feedstuff is based on availability and cost, which has caused oilseed meal use to decline over the last 20 years.
• Byproduct use has increased.
• Plant protein sources consist of oilseed meals, soybean, cotton, canola, sunflower, safflower, peanut, copra, linseed.
• Animal protein sources include tankage, meat meal, bone meal, fish meal, milk products and poultry byproducts.
• Protein sources also include algae and NPN sources, or non protein nitrogen compounds, including urea, biuret, diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, and ammonium sulfate.

Plant Sources aka Oilseed Meal

• Very important with over 40% crude protein and nitrogen in the form of a true protein, most oilseed meals are highly digestible.
• To extract oilseed meals, there are a few different methods.
• The method known as the expeller extract, or to mechanically press, causes a lower yield, more than 3% fat, and pricey.
• Maillard reaction is the excessive heating while processing. The process binds specific amino acids, making it less available for digestion.

SBM aka Soybean Meal

• Widely used in the US with 44-48% crude protein.
• Consists of the most abundant and complete AA source, with being highly palatable and digestible.
• To create SBM, oil extraction then material is heated and ground.
• The anti-nutritional factor for SBM is trypsin inhibitor which stops enzymes from working and reduces protein digestibility.

Cottonseed Meal

• Usually grown in warmer climates and is a generally good quality protein but can be variable depending on processing.
• around 41% crude protein and is low in lysine and methane.
• Typically less palatable in swine and poultry but fine for consumption for ruminants.
• The concern for cottonseed would be gossypol, or the pigment found in the cottonseed that is toxic to young animals.
• Gossypol causes poor growth, gene egg yolks and reduced reproduction and affects monogastrics more due to the rumen microorganisms.
• Most cottonseed is in free form which is the most toxic.
• Heating the cottonseed binds the gossypol to AA making it less available in the free form state.

Canola Meal

• Second most traded protein supply behind SBM
• Usually grown in colder climates and has around 40% crude protein.
• Has a good AA profile, but less palatable and lower lysine than SBM.
• Used usually in dairy diets, but can be added to other diets in lower amounts.
• The unprocessed seeds contain glucosinolates, eruic acid and myrosinase which creates toxic compounds.
• Farmers breed canola to contain less acid.

Animal Protein Sources

• Sources have a great AA profile. They use a combo of carcass trimmings, condemned livers, inedible lungs, bones, milk or milk byproducts.
• Sources include meat, meat and bone, meal meal tankage, meat and bone meal tankage. All excellent sources of AA and highly digestible
• Tankage contains dried blood in the mixture.
• A source includes blood meal with is 85% crude protein, excellent source of AA, but not as palatable.
• Milk products includes dried and skim milk with a higher protein content, highly digestible, but is costly.
• Fish meal is clean dried tissue of fish cuttings or whole fish with high protein, high digestibility, but is costly and has palatability concerns.
• Feather meal is clean feathers from slaughtered poultry that is treated with steam. Feather meal converts insoluble protein to easily digested protein.
• Poultry litter is high in NPN and treated by ensiled, heat treated and deep stacking.
• Algae is 50% protein and is not very palatable.
• Three forms of yeast includes died yeast, live yeast and irradiated yeast.
• Dried yeast has 35% high quality protein and high vitamin B.
• Live yeast is active dry yeast and has to survive in the GIT environment.
• Irradiated yeast is prepped from yeast subjected to UV light, increasing D2 levels.
• NPN, or non protein nitrogen sources, are purely for ruminant use.
• Urea is a NPN and has 45% nitrogen and 281% crude protein and biuret is the other NPN source and has 40.5% nitrogen and 253% crude protein.
• Other NPN sources include diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate and ammonium sulfate.

Roughages

• Used to describe dietary components that are high in structural CHO. They are usually high in fiber with 18% crude fiber and low in energy.
• Good source of CHO and protein and is ingested by herbivores with nutrients available by microbes.
• More variable in nutrient content because of plant maturity, harvesting practices, and storage.
• Roughages are in two categories of forage and herbage, forage consists of plant grown and used specifically for feeding animals.
• Ways to classify forages including season, grass vs legume, and fresh vs preserved

Warm vs Cool Season Forages

• C3 and c4 plants which use different photosynthetic pathways to produce their energy.
• C3 is cool season forages start growing at 32 degrees but optimal at 60-80 degrees that stores more CHO in cell contents
• C4 is the warm season forage and starts growing at 50 degrees with optimal growth at 80-95 degrees that are heat tolerant and has a deep root system with low leaf count.
• Increased stem size equals reduced palatability and digestibility.
• When C4 plants use nitrogen efficiently it causes less nitrogen in tissues which equals lower protein content.
• Forage classes are grasses and legumes in the form of pasture, hay and silage.
• Grasses are lower in protein, digestible energy, calcium and magnesium compared to legumes. Grasses' nutritional value and palatability decreases with maturity.
• The productivity of grasses depends on water, sun, and fertilization. Soil nitrogen levels are important for productivity.
• Grasses are primary used for pasture or hay with grazing tolerance. Animal preference and species dependent.
• Grasses have warm and cool season species. Cool season grasses are orchard grass, Timothy, smooth bromegrass, bluegrass, tall fescue, and ryegrass.
• Warm season grasses are Sudan grass, bermudagrass, Bahia grass, and Dallis grass.
• Other roughage class are legumes tend to be higher in protein, energy, calcium, magnesium, there is relatively higher performance by grazing animals and has high palatability, increases soil fertility and has high lignin in stems and high NSC in leaves.
• Primary use of legumes are pasture and hay. Legumes have rhizobia organisms that convert atmospheric N to a usable form for the plant.
• Cool season legumes are alfalfa, clover, birdsfoot trefoil, and crown vetch. Warm season legumes are lespedeza, forage soybean and peanut.
• Fresh, or pasture, forages have continuous and rotational grazing.
• Continuous grazing increases animal productivity during times of high forage yield.
• Rotational forage increases forage productivity, animal productivity but requires more management. Fertilization and species selection affects nutrition content.
• Preserved forages are hay, silage, and haylage, which is hay baled at 50% moisture content and sealed.
• Rain damage, fertilization, species selection, and storage affects nutrition content of preserved forages.
• Forage maturity is the factor that affects forage quality the most.

Crude Fiber

• Inaccurately estimates fiber content of high fiber feedstuffs by it underestimates fiber content because it does not include the HC fraction which is digestible by ruminants.
• Van soest is a boil example in neutral detergent solution that solubilizes proteins, dissolves minerals, sugars, and starches.
• End result is neutral detergent fiber, or NDF, which turns into hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin
• Boiling NDF, or neutral detergent fiber, in a acid detergent solution, it solubilizes all cell contents and hemicellulose. The end product to this is acid detergent fiber, or ADF, which turns into cellulose and lignin.
• NDF is used to estimate voluntary intake because it provides bulk to died, but lower NDF values are preferred and increases as maturity increases.
• Cell wall content which is hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, silica and cutin effect forage utilization of NDF. ADF is used to estimate digestibility because ADF contains the least digestible plant components.
• ADF has an inverse relationship with digestibility with lower ADF forages having a higher energy content.
• Higher lignin amount can block enzymes from digesting cell and HC.
• Soil type, species, and fertilization practices change the mineral content.
• Usually there are high potassium levels, medium magnesium levels in grasses and legumes with a high calcium in legumes.
• Other roughages are hulls and pulp with hulls consisting of cottonseed, soybean, peanut and rice that have 3-6% crude protein with variable digestibility.
• Cottonseed and soybean have a higher digestibility peanut and rice hulls.
• There are two different types of pulp, beet and citrus.
• Beet pulp are wet and nestled with 8-10% crude protein and 18% fiber and is highly digestible.
• Citrus pulp is mainly used for dairy and beef that consist of 6-7% crude protein and 13% fiber, and has less than 20-25% of a ration.

Forage Concerns

• Grasses can have Prussia acid poisoning, tall fescue toxicity, and grass tetany

Prussic Acid

• Prussic acid can contain cyanide and breaks down to prussic acid which inhibits enzyme that links O2 with RBC, causing the animal to die of asphyxiation that is released as a result of cells rupturing during chewing, hard freeze, or mechanical.
• Can affect sorghum, sudangrass, or Johnson grass with the highest concentration in leaves, young plants, and stressed plants.
• To manage Prussic acid allow 18-24 inches before grazing with no grazing on stressed plants and PA levels dissipate once forage cut, so crimping hay will help.

Tall Fescue Toxicity

• Is an endophyte fungus that produces ergovaline since ergovaline causes vasoconstriction, poor growth, and reproductive issues.
• Tall Fescue toxicity is insect resistant and tolerates dry conditions.
• Has a long growing season, high volume, palatable, tolerates grazing, hay or pasture.

Grass Tetany

• Disorder that causes hypo magnesium that mainly effects ruminants grazing pastures in early spring.
• Rapid growth causes high moisture and lower magnesium.
• Older cattle are more affected because they are less able to mobilize magnesium reserves.
• Early signs of grass tetany are harder to tell but can be excitability, muscle twitching or staggering along with collapsing, stiffening of muscles, head back, foreleg paddling, or chewing motion.
• Treatment is magnesium sulfate and calcium magnesium gluconate solution.
• To prevent grass tetany, give cattle magnesium mineral.

Legume Concerns

• Concerns include bloating, blister beetles, tannins, alkaloids, and bleeding disease
• Bloating inclusions flotju and free gas bloat that includes frothy bloat.
• Frothy bloat is either pasture bloat from alfalfa or feedlot bloat from grain. Pasture bloat is rapid digestion with the soluble protein in alfalfa causing the foam.
• In feedlot bloat, there is also rapid digestion, but the bacteria promotes stable foam
• Free gas bloat, there is an accumulation of gas that's causing obstruction where the pressure in rumen increases pressure on the diaphragm that prevents breathing, causing suffocation.
• Bloating is more common with legumes in pastures and is most common with aggressive eaters.
• Bleeding disease which has coumarin converted to dicumarol by molds which inhibits vitamin K.
• The inhibition of vitamin K reduced blood clotting.
• Sweet clover is the main concern for carrying coumarin with moldy sweet clover being fed to cattle wich causes hemorrhage.

Blister Beetles

• Contains cantharidin which is a blistering agent.
• Released is in dead or living beetles from when they are crushed that is mainly found in alfalfa hay and is toxic to horses.

Tannins

• Chemical compounds produced by several broadleaf forages.
• Can inhibit digestive enzyme activity and bind proteins to resist degradation but does prevent blood and suppresses internal parasites.