Basic types of feeds

Cereal grains and their by-products

In the agricultural practices of North America and northern Europe, barley, corn, oats, rye, and sorghums are grown almost entirely as animal feed, although small quantities are processed for human consumption as well. These grains are fed whole or ground, either singly or mixed with high-protein oil meals or other by-products, minerals, and vitamins to form a complete feed for pigs and poultry or an adequate dietary supplement for ruminants and horses.

The production of grains is seasonal because of temperature or moisture conditions or a combination of both. It is necessary to produce a full year’s supply during the limited growing season. The grain is dried to 14 percent or less moisture to prevent sprouting or molding; the grain is then stored in containers or buildings where insects and rodents cannot destroy it. It is generally desirable to store more than a year’s supply of the grains to be used as feed, because crop failures sometimes occur.

High-protein meals

Vegetable seeds produced primarily as a source of oil for human food and industrial uses include soybeans, peanuts (groundnuts), flaxseed (linseed), canola, cottonseed, coconuts, oil palm, and sunflower seeds. After these seeds are processed to remove the oil, the residues, which may contain from 5 percent to less than 1 percent of fat and 20 to 50 percent of protein, are marketed as animal feeds. Cottonseed and peanuts have woody hulls or shells, which are generally removed before processing—if the hulls or shells are left intact, the resulting by-product is higher in fibre and appreciably lower in protein and energy value. The protein quality of these meals for monogastrics varies greatly depending on the levels and availability of the amino acids present. Ruminants in general require only protein or nitrogen sources for the rumen microbes to synthesize amino acids.

These high-protein feeds supplement inexpensive roughages, cereal grains, and other low-protein feeds in order to furnish the protein and amino acids needed for efficient growth or production. The supplement chosen for a particular diet depends largely on the cost and availability of supply.

By-products of sugar beets and sugarcane

From the sugar beet industry come beet tops, which are used on the farm either fresh or ensiled, and dried beet pulp and beet molasses, which are produced in sugar factories. Cane molasses is a residue from cane sugar manufacture. These are all palatable, high-quality sources of carbohydrates. Sugarcane bagasse (stalk residue) is fibrous, hard to digest, and of very low feed value. In Europe, beets and some other roots are grown as animal feed. Citrus molasses and dried citrus pulp, which are generally available at low cost as by-products of the citrus juice industry, are often used as high-quality feeds for cattle and sheep.

Other by-product feeds

Large quantities of animal feed are by-products or residues from commercial processing of cereal grains for human consumption. The largest group of these by-product feeds comes from the milling of wheat, including wheat bran, wheat middlings, wheat germ meal, and wheat mill feed. In some areas, bakery wastes, such as stale and leftover bread, rolls, and various pastry products, are ground and used as filler or feed for pets and farm animals. Rice bran and rice hulls are obtained in similar fashion from the mills that polish rice for human food. Corn gluten feed, corn gluten meal, and hominy feed are produced as by-products from the manufacture of starch for industrial and food uses.

Brewers’ grains, corn distillers’ grains and solubles, and brewer’s yeast are useful animal feeds and are collected from the dried residues of the fermentation industries that produce beer and distilled spirits. Waste products from pineapple-canning plants include pineapple bran or pulp and the ensiled leaves from the plant. By-products from the abattoirs and meatpacking plants that process animals into meat include such feeds as meat and bonemeal, tankage (animal residue left after rendering fat in a slaughterhouse), meat scraps, blood meal, poultry waste, and feather meal. Various types and qualities of fish meals are produced by fish-processing plants. These animal by-products typically contain 50 percent or more high-quality protein and the mineral elements calcium and phosphorus. Steamed bonemeal is particularly high in these important minerals. Dried skim milk, dried whey, and dried buttermilk are feed by-products from the dairy industry.