Livestock Feed and Nutrition Key Terms

Enhance your livestock feeding knowledge to improve your feeding program

The livestock nutrition industry has evolved into a field of scientific research that is constantly changing. Producers of many species depend upon the most current information on lifestock feed and nutrition, and resources to keep their animals healthy and at their most productive, whether in a confined animal feeding operation or foraging on natural feedstuffs and supplements. Increase your understanding of specific animal feeding terms, and know exactly what you're feeding your stock to determine if it's the best feed for your purposes.

Analyze livestock feed and nutrition specific to the animals you keep. Consider the following as you begin to expand your vocabulary and viability within the industry you've chosen:

1. Understand what the box of mineral and nutrient percentages on every bag of feed really mean.

2. Decide whether livestock feed companies or smaller feed mills provide the best feeds, mineral blocks and supplements for your livestock.

3. Buy organic livestock feed if you're producing for top-end commercial meat sales, and mix your own rations to ensure that they're free of hormones, pesticides and animal by-products.

 

Find terms and resources specific to livestock feeds nutrient analyses

Use basic livestock feed and nutrition key terms to better understand typical ruminant and monogastric feed evaluations, both as-fed and on a dry matter basis. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the two types of analyses are not interchangeable - it's like comparing apples to oranges. It's most accurate to compare nutrient analyses on a dry matter basis, which takes moisture out of the feed to drill down to basic available nutrients, including energy and nutrients that are a necessity for some species, and are toxic for others.
Try: When you request a feed nutrient analysis from livestock feed suppliers, or have your own feed evaluated in a laboratory, use the glossaries from Equi-Analytical Laboratories (horses) or Dairy One (ruminants, especially cattle) to fully understand the analysis. Check out the Purina Mills feedlot product nutrient analysis and apply the terms you've learned.

Apply the cattle feed nutrition terms you've learned to feedlot management

Many small feed milling operations produce cattle feed products locally, and some are specifically for cattle starting and finishing for slaughter at a grade of select or better. If your feedlot manufactures its own cattle nutrition products and supplements, stay abreast of how your feeding program should adjust to the industry with cattle-on-feed reports, and formulate least-cost rations to fatten your cattle and your bottom line.
Try: Learn cow feed lot management terms from CattleNetwork. Gain a greater understanding of industry cattle-on-feed reports from the experts at The Dairy Site.com. Formulate your own least-cost ration for wintering and finishing feedlot or pasture stock using the formulas and tips from the University of Missouri Extension.

Analyze livestock feed and nutrition information by specialty

Any breeder or producer can purchase livestock feed oats and other wholesale livestock feed ingredients for custom rations, but if you're feeding non-"mainstream" species or sick animals, you'll need feeds for livestock that meet specific nutritional requirements. Whether raising llamas, ostriches, or Hereford cattle with pinkeye, formulate your feed and supplements to meet your production goals.
Try: If you're feeding camelids such as llamas or alpacas on forage, submit a sample of the feed to Holmes Laboratory, and compare your analysis with the company's recommended feed nutrient levels for camelids. Ensure the health of your ratites by comparing the composition of your ostrich and emu feeds to minimum levels the Virginia Cooperative Extension recommends. Search for all other specific feeding needs using the American Feed Industry Association's Feedsearch.com. If you're medicating livestock feed to treat a nutrient deficiency or other total herd animal health concern, use the feed medication calculators maintained by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

 

• Buy commercially produced cattle feeds with the AAFCO feeding label to ensure compliance with animal by-product feeding regulations. A feed with questionable origins and ingredients could sideline your profits at best, and at worst could expose your herd to Mad Cow Disease.

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