Materials of nutritional value fed to animals. Each species has a normal diet composed of feeds or feedstuffs which are appropriate to its kind of alimentary tract and which are economically sensible as well as being nutritious and palatable. Agricultural animals at pasture have a diet which is very variable and subject to naturally occurring nutritional deficiencies. See also ration.
- acidification of f. — used to enhance the stomach acidity, reducing pH and salmonella infection as well as improving pig performance.
- f. additives — pharmaceutical or nutritional substances that are not natural feedstuffs are added to made-up and stored feeds for various purposes, chiefly to control infectious disease or to promote growth. Improper use may cause poisoning in the subject animals or undesirable residues in food for human consumption produced by the animals. The use of additives in this way is strictly controlled by legislation in most countries. Some of them require a prescription by a veterinarian to comply with local poisons laws. See also mass medication, growth promotants.
- f. beets — varieties of Beta vulgaris developed specifically to provide feed for cattle.
- f. blocks — nutritional materials pressed into a block form which animals lick or nibble. Used usually as a vehicle for protein and mineral–vitamin mixes with a variable amount of carbohydrate in the form of cereal grain or molasses.
- f. budget — comparison of feed required with feed available and likely to be grown during the time of the budget projection.
- f. bunk — see feedbunk.
- compound f. — a mixture of macro- and micronutrients in appropriate concentrations to be added to grain or concentrate mixtures to provide an adequate diet for high producing animals.
- f. concentrates — one method of supplying supplements and additives is to prepare a mix of these substances which is added to the basic ration. These mixes are called concentrates and, because they usually have a high content of cereal grains, mixes that contain only grain are also called concentrates.
- f. conversion — units of production (e.g. lb or kg weight gain) per unit of feed fed (lb or kg weight of feed fed) during a specified time period.
- f. conversion rate (FCR) — the number of pounds or kilograms of the ration needed to produce 1 pound or kilogram of animal under standard conditions.
- f. deprivation — complete or partial withholding of feed.
- forage f. — hay, ensilage, green chop. Any feed with a high cellulose content relative to other nutrients.
- f. grade — said of a consignment of grain. Suitable for animal feed but not for human consumption.
- f. grain — cereal and other grains used as animal feed. Includes wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, sorghum.
- f. hopper — a funnel shaped bin used to store grain or pelleted feed.
- pelleted f. — concentrated foods made into pellets. Have the advantages of ease of handling, lack of dust and waste, and a standard composition of the pellets. They have the disadvantage of additional cost and the potential danger of destruction of vitamins by heat or compression during processing. A common feeding technique in poultry and rabbits. See also ruminal parakeratosis.
- f. poisoning — a group of acute illnesses due to ingestion of contaminated food. It may result from allergy, toxemia from foods such as those inherently poisonous or those contaminated by poisons, foods containing poisons formed by bacteria or bloodborne infections. Food poisoning usually causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract (gastroenteritis).
- f. refusal — the patient is hungry but refuses to eat the particular feed.
- f. residues — materials left over from some treatment of pasture or crop, or of animal material from animals that have been treated with for example a chlorinated hydrocarbon. The residues may be toxic to the animals or their risk may be that of subsequent passage to the human food chain.
- f. standards — a set of tables which include the amounts of each dietary constituent required by each age and class of animal for maintenance and for different levels of production. When complemented by tables of composition of feeds it is then possible to accurately formulate rations for individual or groups of animals, a process essential for operation of a least-cost ration feeding program.
- f. supplements — nutritive materials which are feedstuffs in their own right and which are added to a basic diet such as pasture to supplement its deficiencies. Includes trace elements and macrofeeds such as protein supplements.
- f. antibiotic supplement — antibiotics fed to supply undefined growth promotion factors to farm animals. Called also feed probiotic supplements.
- f. probiotic supplement — see feed antibiotic supplement (above).
- f. utilization — proportion of a feed which can be utilized by the patient for bodily functions; abnormality may be a characteristic of the feed or of the patient's digestive or metabolic processes.
