fodder

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(fŏd'ər) pronunciation
n.
  1. Feed for livestock, especially coarsely chopped hay or straw.
  2. Raw material, as for artistic creation.
  3. A consumable, often inferior item or resource that is in demand and usually abundant supply: romantic novels intended as fodder for the pulp fiction market.
tr.v., -dered, -der·ing, -ders.
To feed with fodder.

[Middle English, from Old English fōdor.]


Coarse plants harvested whole and cured in an erect position.

Feed for herbivorous animals, usually used to describe dried leafy material such as hay. See also forage.

  • f. beet — a root crop grown solely as a source of feed for cattle, possibly sheep. Lactic acidosis, oxalate andnitrite poisoning are all possible with fodder beet feeding. See also beta vulgaris, carbohydrate engorgement.
  • f. crop — crops being grown for hay, e.g. oats, barley, wheat. Can also be used for grazing and may cause hypomagnesemia or nitrite poisoning. The group of diseases is known as cereal crop poisoning.
  • f. poisoning — an all-embracing term used with reference to sickness occurring in animals being fed hay which is often moldy or damaged in some way. See also mycotoxicosis.
  • f. radish — see raphanus sativus.
  • f. sorghumsorghum bicolor.
Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'fodder'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to fodder, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Fodder.
Fodder factory set up by an individual farmer to produce customised cattle feed

Fodder or animal feed is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants, but some is of animal origin. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves (see forage). It includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and sprouted grains and legumes.

The worldwide animal feed industry consumed 635 million tons of feed (compound feed equivalent) in 2006, with an annual growth rate of about 2%. The use of agricultural land to grow feed rather than human food can be controversial; some types of feed, such as corn (maize), can also serve as human food; those that cannot, such as grassland grass, may be grown on land that can be used for crops consumed by humans. Some agricultural byproducts fed to animals may be considered unsavory by human consumers.

Contents

Common plants specifically grown for fodder

Round hay bales
Newton of Cawdor stack of bales, sweet-smelling fodder stored for winter
Cut green fodder being transported to cattle in Tanzania

Types of fodder

Various types of legume (left) and grass (right) fodder

Health concerns

Barley is a crop sometimes grown for fodder

In the past, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease") spread through the inclusion of ruminant meat and bone meal in cattle feed due to prion contamination. This practice is now banned in most countries where it has occurred. Some animals have a lower tolerance for spoiled or moldy fodder than others, and certain types of molds, toxins, or poisonous weeds inadvertently mixed into a feed source may cause economic losses due to sickness or death of the animals. The US Dept. of Health and Human Services regulates drugs of the Veterinary Feed Directive type that can be present within commercial livestock feed.

Sprouted grains as fodder

Fodder in the form of sprouted grains and legumes can be grown in a small-scale environment. Sprouted grains can greatly increase the nutritional value of the grain compared with feeding the ungerminated grain to stock. Sprouted barley and other cereal grains can be grown hydroponically in a carefully controlled environment. Under hydroponic conditions, sprouted fodder at 150 mm tall with a 50 mm root mat is at its peak for animal feed.

See also

References

External links



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Dansk (Danish)
n. - foder
v. tr. - fodre

Nederlands (Dutch)
veevoer, minderwaardig materiaal (figuurlijk), voeren met veevoer

Français (French)
n. - fourrage, écuelle, (fig) matière
v. tr. - affourager

Deutsch (German)
n. - Futter
v. - füttern

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - νομή, φορβή, σανός, χόρτο, τροφή ζώων
v. - ταϊζω ζώα

Italiano (Italian)
foraggio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - forragem (f) (tipo de ração)
v. - alimentar (gado, cavalos, etc.)

Русский (Russian)
корм для скота

Español (Spanish)
n. - forraje, pienso, pasto
v. tr. - pensar, dar pienso a

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - torrfoder
v. - utfodra boskap

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
饲料, 弹药, 草料, 喂

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 飼料, 彈藥, 草料
v. tr. - 餵

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (가축의) 사료
v. tr. - ~에 먹이를 주다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - まぐさ, 飼料

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) علف (فعل) يعلف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מספוא, חציר, מזון‬
v. tr. - ‮נתן מספוא ל-‬


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