Animal feed is food given to domestic animals , especially livestock , in the course of animal husbandry . There are two basic types: fodder and forage . Used alone, the word feed more often refers to fodder . Animal feed is an important input to animal agriculture , and is frequently the main cost of the raising or keeping of animals. Farms typically try to reduce cost for this food, by growing their own, grazing animals, or supplementing expensive feeds with substitutes, such as food waste like spent grain from beer brewing .
59-420: Bran , also known as miller's bran , is the component of a cereal grain consisting of the hard layers - the combined aleurone and pericarp - surrounding the endosperm . Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with the germ , it is an integral part of whole grains , and is often produced as a byproduct of milling in the production of refined grains . Bran is highly nutritious, but
118-650: A grain elevator or silo , to be sold later. Grain stores need to be constructed to protect the grain from damage by pests such as seed-eating birds and rodents . When the cereal is ready to be distributed, it is sold to a manufacturing facility that first removes the outer layers of the grain for subsequent milling for flour or other processing steps, to produce foods such as flour, oatmeal , or pearl barley . In developing countries, processing may be traditional, in artisanal workshops, as with tortilla production in Central America. Most cereals can be processed in
177-444: A balanced diet. Many legumes, however, are deficient in the essential amino acid methionine , which grains contain. Thus, a combination of legumes with grains forms a well-balanced diet for vegetarians. Such combinations include dal (lentils) with rice by South Indians and Bengalis , beans with maize tortillas , tofu with rice, and peanut butter with wholegrain wheat bread (as sandwiches) in several other cultures, including
236-401: A food trade imbalance and thus food security . Speculation , as well as other compounding production and supply factors leading up to the 2007–2008 financial crises , created rapid inflation of grain prices during the 2007–2008 world food price crisis . Other disruptions, such as climate change or war related changes to supply or transportation can create further food insecurity; for example
295-400: A mechanism through which these nutrient deficiencies can be resolved, improving animal rate of growth, health, and well-being. Many farm animals have a diet largely consisting of grain-based ingredients because of the higher costs of quality feed. Chelates in animal feed is jargon for metalloorganic compounds added to animal feed. The compounds provide sources of various metals that improve
354-457: A range of animal tissues from cattle feed. Feed bans in United States (2009) Canada (2007) expanded on this, prohibiting the use of potentially infectious tissue in all animal and pet food and fertilizers. Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock . Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture , crop residue , or immature cereal crops, but it
413-408: A role. Among the best-known cereals are maize, rice , wheat, barley, sorghum , millet , oat, rye and triticale . Some other grains are colloquially called cereals, even though they are not grasses; these pseudocereals include buckwheat , quinoa , and amaranth . All cereal crops are cultivated in a similar way. Most are annual , so after sowing they are harvested just once. An exception
472-536: A sugar . In the 20th century, industrial processes developed around chemically altering the grain, to be used for other processes. In particular, maize can be altered to produce food additives, such as corn starch and high-fructose corn syrup . Cereal production has a substantial impact on the environment. Tillage can lead to soil erosion and increased runoff. Irrigation consumes large quantities of water; its extraction from lakes, rivers, or aquifers may have multiple environmental effects , such as lowering
531-500: A variety of ways. Rice processing , for instance, can create whole-grain or polished rice, or rice flour. Removal of the germ increases the longevity of grain in storage. Some grains can be malted , a process of activating enzymes in the seed to cause sprouting that turns the complex starches into sugars before drying. These sugars can be extracted for industrial uses and further processing, such as for making industrial alcohol , beer , whisky , or rice wine , or sold directly as
590-820: Is a byproduct of beer making that is widely used as animal feed. Compound feed is fodder that is blended from various raw materials and additives. These blends are formulated according to the specific requirements of the target animal. They are manufactured by feed compounders as meal type , pellets or crumbles . The main ingredients used in commercially prepared feed are the feed grains, which include corn , soybeans , sorghum , oats , and barley . Compound feed may also include premixes , which may also be sold separately. Premixes are composed of microingredients such as vitamins, minerals, chemical preservatives, antibiotics , fermentation products, and other ingredients that are purchased from premix companies, usually in sacked form, for blending into commercial rations. Because of
649-402: Is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage . Feed manufacturing refers to the process of producing animal feed from raw agricultural products. Fodder produced by manufacturing is formulated to meet specific animal nutrition requirements for different species of animals at different life stages. According to
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#1732844372083708-442: Is difficult to digest due to its high fiber content; its high fat content also reduces its shelf life as the oils/fats are prone to becoming rancid. As such, it is typically removed from whole grain during the refining process - e.g. in processing wheat grain into white flour, or refining brown rice into white rice. Bran is present in cereal grain, including rice , corn (maize) , wheat , oats , barley , rye , and millet . Bran
767-552: Is highly dependent on feed that reflects a well balanced nutrition. Some modern agricultural practices, such as fattening cows on grains or in feed lots, have detrimental effects on the environment and animals. For example, increased corn or other grain in feed for cows, makes their microbiomes more acidic weakening their immune systems and making cows a more likely vector for E. coli , while other feeding practices can improve animal impacts. For example, feeding cows certain kinds of seaweed, reduces their production of methane, reducing
826-614: Is no frost. Most cereals are planted in tilled soils , which reduces weeds and breaks up the surface of a field. Most cereals need regular water in the early part of their life cycle. Rice is commonly grown in flooded fields, though some strains are grown on dry land. Other warm climate cereals, such as sorghum, are adapted to arid conditions. Cool-season cereals are grown mainly in temperate zones. These cereals often have both winter varieties for autumn sowing, winter dormancy, and early summer harvesting, and spring varieties planted in spring and harvested in late summer. Winter varieties have
885-611: Is not required. Rice can be grown as a ratoon crop; and other researchers are exploring perennial cool-season cereals, such as kernza , being developed in the US. Fertilizer and pesticide usage may be reduced in some polycultures , growing several crops in a single field at the same time. Fossil fuel-based nitrogen fertilizer usage can be reduced by intercropping cereals with legumes which fix nitrogen . Greenhouse gas emissions may be cut further by more efficient irrigation or by water harvesting methods like contour trenching that reduce
944-506: Is not the same as chaff , which is a coarser, scaly material surrounding the grain, but does not form part of the grain itself, and which is indigestible by humans. Bran is particularly rich in dietary fiber and essential fatty acids , and contains significant quantities of starch , protein , vitamins , and dietary minerals . It is also a source of phytic acid , an antinutrient that prevents nutrient absorption. The high oil content of bran makes it subject to rancidification , one of
1003-454: Is often used to enrich breads (notably muffins ) and breakfast cereals , especially for the benefit of those wishing to increase their intake of dietary fiber . Bran may also be used for pickling ( nukazuke ) as in the tsukemono of Japan . Rice bran in particular finds many uses in Japan, where it is known as nuka ( 糠 ; ぬか ). Besides using it for pickling, Japanese people add it to
1062-427: Is often used to make injera . It can be eaten as a warm breakfast cereal like farina with a chocolate or nutty flavor. The table shows the annual production of cereals in 1961, 1980, 2000, 2010, and 2019/2020. (millions of metric tons) Cereals are the most traded commodities by quantity in 2021, with wheat, maize, and rice the main cereals involved. The Americas and Europe are the largest exporters, and Asia
1121-619: Is one of the most competitive businesses in the agricultural sector and is by far the largest purchaser of U.S. corn, feed grains, and soybean meal. Tens of thousands of farmers with feed mills on their own farms are able to compete with huge conglomerates with national distribution. Feed crops generated $ 23.2 billion in cash receipts on U.S. farms in 2001. At the same time, farmers spent a total of $ 24.5 billion on feed that year. With progressing climate change and reoccuring droughts, extensive rangeland agriculture increasingly suffers of forage shortage. Innovative approaches to substitute forage include
1180-510: Is rice, which although usually treated as an annual can survive as a perennial , producing a ratoon crop. Cereals adapted to a temperate climate , such as barley , oats , rye , spelt , triticale , and wheat , are called cool-season cereals. Those preferring a tropical climate , such as millet and sorghum , are called warm-season cereals. Cool-season cereals, especially rye, followed by barley, are hardy; they grow best in fairly cool weather, and stop growing, depending on variety, when
1239-556: Is sometimes grown as a perennial . Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, Ceres . Cereals were domesticated in the Neolithic , some 8,000 years ago. Wheat and barley were domesticated in
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#17328443720831298-420: Is the largest importer. The largest exporter of maize is the US, while India is the largest exporter of rice. China is the largest importer of maize and of rice. Many other countries trade cereals, both as exporters and as importers. Cereals are traded as futures on world commodity markets , helping to mitigate the risks of changes in price for example, if harvests fail. Animal feed Animal wellbeing
1357-502: Is the main ingredient of bread and pasta . Maize flour has been important in Mesoamerica since ancient times, with foods such as Mexican tortillas and tamales . Rye flour is a constituent of bread in central and northern Europe, while rice flour is common in Asia. A cereal grain consists of starchy endosperm , germ , and bran . Wholemeal flour contains all of these; white flour
1416-507: Is useful as feed for poultry and other livestock , as part of a balanced ration with other inputs. Wheatings, a milling byproduct comprising mostly bran with some pieces of endosperm also left over, are included in this category. Bran was found to be the most successful slug deterrent by BBC's TV programme Gardeners' World . It is a common substrate and food source used for feeder insects, such as mealworms and waxworms . Wheat bran has also been used for tanning leather since at least
1475-402: Is without some or all of the germ or bran. Because cereals have a high starch content, they are often used to make industrial alcohol and alcoholic drinks by fermentation . For instance, beer is produced by brewing and fermenting starch , mainly from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley. Rice wines such as Japanese sake are brewed in Asia; a fermented rice and honey wine
1534-454: The Puccinia spp.) and powdery mildews . Fusarium head blight, caused by Fusarium graminearum , is a significant limitation on a wide variety of cereals. Other pressures include pest insects and wildlife like rodents and deer. In conventional agriculture, some farmers will apply fungicides or pesticides Annual cereals die when they have come to seed, and dry up. Harvesting begins once
1593-468: The "organic" movements of the early 21st century, but there is a tradeoff in yield-per-plant, putting pressure on resource-poor areas as food crops are replaced with cash crops . Cereals are grasses, in the Poaceae family, that produce edible grains . A cereal grain is botanically a caryopsis , a fruit where the seed coat is fused with the pericarp . Grasses have stems that are hollow except at
1652-606: The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), there are four basic steps: In agriculture today, the nutritional needs of farm animals are well understood and may be satisfied through natural forage and fodder alone, or augmented by direct supplementation of nutrients in concentrated, controlled form. The nutritional quality of feed is influenced not only by the nutrient content, but also by many other factors such as feed presentation, hygiene, digestibility, and effect on intestinal health. Feed additives provide
1711-715: The Fertile Crescent ; rice was domesticated in East Asia, and sorghum and millet were domesticated in West Africa. Maize was domesticated by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. In the 20th century, cereal productivity was greatly increased by the Green Revolution . This increase in production has accompanied a growing international trade , with some countries producing large portions of
1770-832: The Green Revolution , a technological change funded by development organizations. The strategies developed by the Green Revolution, including mechanized tilling, monoculture , nitrogen fertilizers, and breeding of new strains of seeds. These innovations focused on fending off starvation and increasing yield-per-plant, and were very successful in raising overall yields of cereal grains, but paid less attention to nutritional quality. These modern high-yield cereal crops tend to have low-quality proteins , with essential amino acid deficiencies, are high in carbohydrates , and lack balanced essential fatty acids , vitamins , minerals and other quality factors. So-called ancient grains and heirloom varieties have seen an increase in popularity with
1829-487: The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 disrupted Ukrainian and Russian wheat supplies causing a global food price crisis in 2022 that affected countries heavily dependent on wheat flour. Cereals are the world's largest crops by tonnage of grain produced. Three cereals, maize, wheat, and rice, together accounted for 89% of all cereal production worldwide in 2012, and 43% of the global supply of food energy in 2009, while
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1888-701: The United States is by far the largest exporter of both, averaging about half of the global maize trade and 40% of the global soya trade in the years leading up the 2012 drought. Other feed grains include wheat , oats , barley , and rice , among many others. Traditional sources of animal feed include household food scraps and the byproducts of food processing industries such as milling and brewing . Material remaining from milling oil crops like peanuts , soy , and corn are important sources of fodder. Scraps fed to pigs are called slop , and those fed to chicken are called chicken scratch . Brewer's spent grain
1947-720: The greenhouse gases from meat production . When an environmental crisis strikes farmers or herders, such as a drought or extreme weather driven by climate change, farmers often have to shift to more expensive manufactured animal feed , which can negatively effect their economic viability. For example, a 2017 drought in Senegal reduced the availability of grazing lands leading to skyrocketing demand and prices for manufactured animal feed, causing farmers to sell large portions of their herds. Additionally agriculture for producing animal feed puts pressure on land use: feed crops need land that otherwise might be used for human food and can be one of
2006-400: The nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. The leaf grows from the base of the blade, an adaptation that protects the growing meristem from grazing animals. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic , with the exception of maize , and mainly anemophilous or wind-pollinated, although insects occasionally play
2065-423: The water when boiling bamboo shoots , and use it for dish washing . In Kitakyushu City, it is called jinda and used for stewing fish, such as sardines . Rice bran is stuck to the surface of commercial ice blocks to prevent them from melting. Bran oil may be also extracted for use by itself for industrial purposes (such as in the paint industry), or as a cooking oil , such as rice bran oil . Wheat bran
2124-623: The water table and cause salination of aquifers. Fertilizer production contributes to global warming , and its use can lead to pollution and eutrophication of waterways. Arable farming uses large amounts of fossil fuel , releasing greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. Pesticide usage can cause harm to wildlife, such as to bees . Some of the impacts of growing cereals can be mitigated by changing production practices. Tillage can be reduced by no-till farming , such as by direct drilling of cereal seeds, or by developing and planting perennial crop varieties so that annual tilling
2183-627: The 16th century. As with cereal fibers and whole grain consumption, bran is under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect chronic diseases. Commonly, bran is heat-treated with the intention of slowing undesirable rancidification, but a 2003 study of heat-treatment of oat bran found a complex pattern whereby increasingly intense heat treatment reduced the development of hydrolytic rancidity and bitterness with time, but increased oxidative rancidity. The authors recommended that heat treatment should be sufficient to achieve selective lipase inactivation, but not so much as to render
2242-484: The Americas. For feeding animals , the amount of crude protein measured in grains is expressed as grain crude protein concentration. Cereals constitute the world's largest commodities by tonnage, whether measured by production or by international trade. Several major producers of cereals dominate the market. Because of the scale of the trade, some countries have become reliant on imports, thus cereals pricing or availability can have outsized impacts on countries with
2301-605: The Hittite Sun goddess of Arinna , the Canaanite Lahmu and the Roman Janus . Complex civilizations arose where cereal agriculture created a surplus, allowing for part of the harvest to be appropriated from farmers, allowing power to be concentrated in cities. During the second half of the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the production of high-yield cereal crops worldwide, especially wheat and rice, due to
2360-485: The advantage of using water when it is plentiful, and permitting a second crop after the early harvest. They flower only in spring as they require vernalization , exposure to cold for a specific period, fixed genetically. Spring crops grow when it is warmer but less rainy, so they may need irrigation. Cereal strains are bred for consistency and resilience to the local environmental conditions. The greatest constraints on yield are plant diseases , especially rusts (mostly
2419-549: The availability of these products, farmers who use their own grain can formulate their own rations and be assured that their animals are getting the recommended levels of minerals and vitamins, although they are still subject to the Veterinary Feed Directive . According to the American Feed Industry Association , as much as $ 20 billion worth of feed ingredients are purchased each year. These products range from grain mixes to orange rinds and beet pulps. The feed industry
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2478-498: The cereal supply for other countries. Cereals provide food eaten directly as whole grains , usually cooked, or they are ground to flour and made into bread , porridge , and other products. Cereals have a high starch content, enabling them to be fermented into alcoholic drinks such as beer . Cereal farming has a substantial environmental impact , and is often produced in high-intensity monocultures . The environmental harms can be mitigated by sustainable practices which reduce
2537-406: The driving factors for deforestation , soil degradation and climate change. " Fodder " refers particularly to foods or forages given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves. It includes hay , straw , silage , compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and sprouted grains and legumes . Grass and crop residues are
2596-733: The harvesting and processing of shrubs into animal feed. This has been extensively researched and applied in Namibia, using waste biomass resulting from woody encroachment . In 2011, around 734.5 million tons of feed were produced annually around the world. The US Animal Drug Availability Act 1996 , passed during the Clinton era, was the first attempt in that country to regulate the use of medicated feed . In 1997, in response to outbreaks of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad cow disease, the United States and Canada banned
2655-858: The health or marketability of the animal. Typical metals salts are derived from cobalt , copper , iron , manganese , and zinc . The objective of supplementation with trace minerals is to avoid a variety of deficiency diseases . Trace minerals carry out key functions in relation to many metabolic processes , most notably as cofactors for enzymes and hormones , and are essential for optimum health, growth and productivity. For example, supplementary minerals help ensure good growth, bone development, feathering in birds, hoof , skin and hair quality in mammals, enzyme structure and functions, and appetite. Deficiency of trace minerals affect many metabolic processes and so may be manifested by different symptoms, such as poor growth and appetite , reproductive failures, impaired immune responses , and general ill-thrift. From
2714-787: The impact on soil and improve biodiversity, such as no-till farming and intercropping . Wheat, barley, rye , and oats were gathered and eaten in the Fertile Crescent during the early Neolithic . Cereal grains 19,000 years old have been found at the Ohalo II site in Israel , with charred remnants of wild wheat and barley. During the same period, farmers in China began to farm rice and millet, using human-made floods and fires as part of their cultivation regimen. The use of soil conditioners , including manure , fish, compost and ashes , appears to have begun early, and developed independently in areas of
2773-456: The lowering of the plasma levels of the various parameters of the lipid profile. Rice bran also contains a high level of dietary fiber ( beta-glucan , pectin , and gum). It also contains ferulic acid , which is also a component of the structure of nonlignified cell walls. Some research suggests, though, inorganic arsenic is present at some level in rice bran. One study found the levels to be 20% higher than in contaminated drinking water. Bran
2832-760: The most important source of animal feed globally. Grains account for 11% of the total dry matter consume by livestock at global level and oilseed crops by-products such as soybean cakes account for 5%. The amount of grain used to produce the same unit of meat varies substantially between species and production systems. According to FAO , ruminants require an average of 2.8 kg of grains to produce 1 kg of meat while monogastrics require 3.2. These figures vary between 0.1 for extensive ruminant systems to 9.4 in beef feedlots, and from 0.1 in backyard chicken production to 4 in industrial pig production. Farmed fish can also be fed on grain and use even less than poultry. The two most important feed grains are maize and soybean , and
2891-509: The need for irrigation, and by breeding new crop varieties. Some cereals such as rice require little preparation before human consumption. For example, to make plain cooked rice , raw milled rice is washed and boiled. Foods such as porridge and muesli may be made largely of whole cereals, especially oats, whereas commercial breakfast cereals such as granola may be highly processed and combined with sugars, oils , and other products. Cereals can be ground to make flour. Wheat flour
2950-481: The plant can be allowed to decompose, or collected as straw ; this can be used for animal bedding, mulch, and a growing medium for mushrooms. It is used in crafts such as building with cob or straw-bale construction . If cereals are not completely dry when harvested, such as when the weather is rainy, the stored grain will be spoilt by mould fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium . This can be prevented by drying it artificially. It may then be stored in
3009-459: The plants and seeds are dry enough. Harvesting in mechanized agricultural systems is by combine harvester , a machine which drives across the field in a single pass in which it cuts the stalks and then threshes and winnows the grain. In traditional agricultural systems, mostly in the Global South , harvesting may be by hand, using tools such as scythes and grain cradles . Leftover parts of
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#17328443720833068-455: The polar lipids oxidizable upon prolonged storage. Cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain . Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods . They include rice , wheat , rye , oats , barley , millet , and maize . Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat and quinoa , are pseudocereals . Most cereals are annuals , producing one crop from each planting, though rice
3127-528: The production of oats and rye has drastically fallen from their 1960s levels. Other cereals not included in the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization statistics include wild rice , which is grown in small amounts in North America, and teff , an ancient grain that is a staple in Ethiopia . Teff is grown in sub-Saharan Africa as a grass primarily for feeding horses. It is high in fiber and protein. Its flour
3186-533: The reasons that it is often separated from the grain before storage or further processing. Bran is often heat-treated to increase its shelf life. Rice bran is a byproduct of the rice-milling process (the conversion of brown rice to white rice ), and it contains various antioxidants . A major rice bran fraction contains 12%–13% oil and highly unsaponifiable components (4.3%). This fraction contains tocotrienols (a form of vitamin E ), gamma-oryzanol , and beta-sitosterol ; all these constituents may contribute to
3245-467: The removal of the bran and germ, all that remains is the starchy endosperm. In some developing countries , cereals constitute a majority of daily sustenance. In developed countries , cereal consumption is moderate and varied but still substantial, primarily in the form of refined and processed grains. Some cereals are deficient in the essential amino acid lysine , obliging vegetarian cultures to combine their diet of cereal grains with legumes to obtain
3304-404: The temperature goes above around 30 °C or 85 °F. Warm-season cereals, in contrast, require hot weather and cannot tolerate frost. Cool-season cereals can be grown in highlands in the tropics, where they sometimes deliver several crops in a single year. In the tropics, warm-season cereals can be grown at any time of the year. In temperate zones, these cereals can only be grown when there
3363-587: The world including Mesopotamia , the Nile Valley , and Eastern Asia. Cereals that became modern barley and wheat were domesticated some 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. Millets and rice were domesticated in East Asia, while sorghum and other millets were domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, primarily as feed for livestock. Maize arose from a single domestication in Mesoamerica about 9,000 years ago. In these agricultural regions, religion
3422-670: Was made in China some 9,000 years ago. Cereals and their related byproducts such as hay are routinely fed to farm animals . Common cereals as animal food include maize, barley, wheat, and oats. Moist grains may be treated chemically or made into silage ; mechanically flattened or crimped, and kept in airtight storage until used; or stored dry with a moisture content of less than 14%. Commercially, grains are often combined with other materials and formed into feed pellets. As whole grains , cereals provide carbohydrates , polyunsaturated fats , protein , vitamins , and minerals . When processed by
3481-490: Was often shaped by the divinity associated with the grain and harvests. In the Mesopotamian creation myth, an era of civilization is inaugurated by the grain goddess Ashnan . The Roman goddess Ceres presided over agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherhood; the term cereal is derived from Latin cerealis , "of grain", originally meaning "of [the goddess] Ceres". Several gods of antiquity combined agriculture and war:
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