Jeff SemlerExtension Educator, AGNR

Washington County

Feedstuffs

SMALL RUMINANT PROGRAM

What are Feedstuffs?

Not nutrients

Contain nutrients

Source of nutrients

FeedstuffsWhile forages are the most

"natural" diet for small ruminants and usually the most economical, a their nutritional requirements can be met by feeding a variety of feedstuffs.

The rumen is a very adaptable organ.

Feedstuffs can substitute for one another so long as nutritional requirements are being met.

Avoid creating dangerous nutritional imbalances .

Feedstuffs

Do not compromise the health of the rumen.

Feeding programs should take into account animal requirements, feedstuff availability, and cost.

Nutrient requirements vary by species, age, size (weight), and stage of production.

Dry Forages & Roughages

Pasture, forbs, and browse

Silage or Haylage (ensilage)

Concentrates (grain)By-product feedsVitamins and mineralsFeed AdditivesProbiotics

Feed classes grouped by origin and like characteristics

Dry Forages & Roughages

Feeds that are cut and cured

Usually hay

Sometimes straw or fodder

HayIt is usually the primary

source of nutrients for sheep during the winter months or dry season when most forage plants are not actively growing.

Hay varies tremendously in quality, and while hay quality can be affected by plant species, quality is determined mostly by the maturity of the plants when they were harvested for hay. 

Proper harvesting and storage is necessary to maintain nutritional quality of hay.

Hay that is stored outside without cover deteriorates rapidly in quality. The only way to know the "true" nutritive value of hay is to have it analyzed at a forage testing laboratory.

A list of certified forage testing laboratories can be found at www.foragetesting.org. 

Hay

Hay is a moderate source of protein and energy.

While good grass hays usually have as much energy as legume hays, legumes have 50 to 75 percent more protein and three times as much calcium.

A good quality grass hay will be a better source of nutrients than a low or medium-quality legume hay.

The important thing about hay is to feed the right hay at the right time.

Hay

There is no "best" hay. From an economical standpoint, the "best" hay is

the hay that provides nutrients at the lowest cost. Palatability is important to the extend that the

more hay sheep refuse the higher cost it will be.A decent grass hay is usually more than adequate

for females during maintenance and in early to mid-gestation.

It almost always meets the needs of mature males and wethers.

A mixed grass-legume hay can be fed to females in late gestation to meet their requirements for calcium.

Hay

A pure legume hay should be saved for the lactation diet due to its higher level of protein and calcium.

On the other hand, if a grass hay is fed during late gestation or lactation, it may be necessary to provide an additional source of calcium to pregnant females and supplemental calcium and protein to lactating females.

Hay

HayGrasses Legumes

Bermudagrass Alfalfa

Bromegrass Birdsfoot Trefoil

Kentucky bluegrass Cowpeas

Native grasses Lespedeza

Orchardgrass Peanut

Reed canarygrass Red Clover

Ryegrass  Soybean

Tall Fescue Vetch

Timothy White Clover/Ladino

Pasture, range, forbs, and browse are usually the primary and most economical source of nutrients

In many cases, all that a ruminant needs to meet its nutritional requirements.

For example, from the time a female weans her young through her first 15 weeks of pregnancy, forage will likely meet all her nutritional needs.

Pasture, forbs & browse

Pasture is high in energy, protein, and palatability when it is in a vegetative state.

However, it can have a high moisture content when it is rapidly growing, and sometimes it can be difficult for high-producing animals to eat enough grass to meet their nutrient requirements.

Vegetation with high moisture content can also cause loose bowels.

Pasture, forbs & browse

As pasture plants mature, their palatability, digestibility, and nutritive value decline, thus it is important to rotate and/or clip pastures to keep plants in a vegetative state.

Forbs often have higher digestibility and crude protein levels than grasses at similar stages of maturity. 

Pasture, forbs & browse

Sheep and goats are excellent weed eaters and will often choose to eat weeds over grass.

Because of their preference for weeds, they are often used to control invasive or noxious weeds, such as leafy spurge, knapweed, and kudzu. 

Pasture, forbs & browse

Silage (or ensilage) is a generic term for livestock feed that is produced by the controlled fermentation of high moisture herbage.

Silage can be made from forage or grain crops.

It has been successfully fed to sheep; however, special attention must be paid to quality, as moldy silage can cause listeriosis or "circling disease."

Listeriosis is an occasional cause of abortion in ewes.

Silage or Haylage

As with fresh forage, the a high-producing animal often cannot consume enough high moisture silage to meet its nutritional needs.

Silage is typically fed on large farms, due to the need for storage and automated feeding equipment.

It can be a more economical source of feed than traditional feeds.

For small and medium sized flocks, silage bags make silage feeding a possibility.

 

Silage or Haylage

It is becoming more popular to feed balage to sheep. 

Silage or Haylage

It is oftentimes necessary to feed concentrates to provide the nutrients that forage alone cannot provide.

This is particularly true in the case of high-producing animals.

There are also times and situations where concentrates are a more economical source of nutrients than forages.

There are two types of concentrate feeds: carbonaceous (energy) and proteinaceous (protein). 

Concentrates (grain)

“Energy" feeds are high in total digestible nutrients (TDN), but tend to be low in protein (8-11 percent protein).

The most common energy feeds are cereal grains: corn, barley, wheat, oats, milo (grain sorghum), and rye.

Energy Feeds

It is not necessary to process grains (grind, crack, roll, or crimp) except for animals that are less than six weeks of age and lack a functioning rumen.

In fact, whole grain diets are healthier for the rumen because they require the animal to do its own grinding of the feed.

Whole, raw soybeans may also be limit fed.

Energy Feeds

While cereal grains are the most concentrated source of energy, they are high in phosphorus and low in calcium.

Feeding a diet that is high in phosphorus and low in calcium can cause urinary calculi in wethers and intact males.

Inadequate calcium can lead to milk fever in pregnant or lactating ewes.

Excessive intake of grain or sudden intake of grain can cause numerous digestive and metabolic problems including enterotoxemia (overeating disease), acidosis (grain overload), feedlot bloat, and polioencephalomalacia.

The rumen always needs time to adjust to a higher concentrate diet. 

Energy Feeds

Image by Cindy Mason

Feedstuff Percent TDN

 Whole cottonseed 91

 Wheat middlings 90

 Corn grain 89

 Wheat grain 89

 Milo (grain sorghum) 89

 Barley grain 84

 Corn gluten feed 83

 Ear corn 82

 Rye grain 81

 Soybean hulls 77

 Molasses 75

 Beet pulp pellets 74

 Oat grain 74

“Protein feeds" contain high levels of protein (over 15 percent) and are usually plant-derived.

Examples include soybean meal, cottonseed meal, and fish meal.

Ruminant-derived meat and bone meal cannot (by law) be fed to other ruminants.

Protein quantity is generally more important than protein quality (amino acid content) in ruminant livestock because the microorganisms in the rumen manufacture their own body protein.

Protein Feeds

Livestock do not store excess protein; it is burned as energy or eliminated (as nitrogen) by the kidneys.

Overfeeding protein will not usually increase productivity or carcass quality.

Since parasites often cause blood loss in small ruminants, higher levels of protein in the diet enable the animal to mount a greater immune response to parasites, especially the blood-sucking barber pole worm.

Protein Feeds

Urea is not a protein supplement, but is a source of nonprotein nitrogen (NPN) that rumen bacteria can use to synthesize protein.

NPN should be used only in conjunction with high-energy feeds such as corn.

Urea, which is 45 percent nitrogen and has a crude protein equivalent of 281 percent, should not supply over one-third of the total nitrogen in a diet.

Urea

Feedstuff Percent CP

Urea 281*

Fish meal 62

Soybean meal 48

Whole Soybeans 42

Cottonseed meal 41

Linseed meal 34

Commercial protein supplement 36 – 40

Corn gluten meal 26

Poultry litter 26

Dry Distiller’s Grain (DDG) 25

Brewer’s Grain 24

Whole cottonseed 21

Alfalfa pellets 17

Lick Tubs 16 - 24

Many feed companies offer "complete“ feeds.Usually to be fed with hay or pasture.These are textured (sweet) or processed

(pelleted) feed products which have been balanced for the needs of livestock of a particular species, age, and production class.

Complete feeds should not be mixed with other grain, because this will "unbalance" them.

For example, adding corn to a complete feed will alter the Ca:P ratio and could result in urinary calculi.

Commercial Feeds

Pelleted rations have an advantage in that the animals cannot sort feed ingredients.

Sorting can be a problem when animals are on self-feeders and allowed to eat all they want.

Pelleted diets are ideal for free choice self-feeding.

Complete feeds come in 50 or 100 lb. sacks and tend to be more expensive than home-made concentrate rations.

For small producers, inexperienced shepherds, and 4-H members, commercial feeds are usually recommended.

Commercial Feeds

To help control feed costs, producers can mix their own simple rations by combining various feed ingredients, such as corn, soybean meal, and minerals.

It is possible to get commercial pelleted supplements that contain vitamins and minerals, as well as high levels of protein (34-40%).

These supplements can easily be combined with whole grains or by-product feeds to create a balanced concentrate ration. 

Pelleted Supplements

There are numerous by-products that can be fed.

Most by-products are available as a result of processing a traditional feed ingredient to generate another product.

For example, corn gluten meal is a by-product of the corn milling process. Soybean hulls are a by-product of soybean processing for oil and meal.

Can often be economical sources of nutrients for sheep; however, they need be analyzed to determine their nutrient content.

By-product feeds

Feedstuff Percent CP TDN

Grain screenings 14 65

Corn stalks 5 59

Soy Hulls 12 77

Cottonseed meal 41 95

Molasses (cane, dry) 9 74

Citrus pulp (dry) 7 79

Corn gluten meal 26 80

Kelp (dry) 7 32

Dry Distiller’s Grain (DDG) 25 90

Beet pulp (dry) 11 75

Whole cottonseed 21 95

Alfalfa pellets 20 61

Wheat middlings 19 82

Choosing the right mineral supplement can be very tricky.

Small Ruminants require macro and micro (trace) minerals and you need to know what minerals are deficient (or excess) in your area and in your feedstuffs.

Mineral supplements range from trace mineralized salt (TMS) fortified with selenium to complete mineral mixes containing all of the macro and micro minerals required.

Granular or "loose" forms of minerals are preferred to blocks.

Blocks are hard on the teeth and consumption may be less.

Mineral feeders should be full of fresh mineral, placed in readily available areas and protected from the weather.

Vitamins and minerals

 A compound added to the ration for a purpose other than to supply nutrients.

Various feed additives can be utilized to improve the health and performance.

Sub-therapeutic antibiotics in rations can help to prevent enterotoxemia and respiratory disease.

Lasalocid (Bovatec®) and Monensin (Rumensin®) are ionophores that can be added to mineral mixes or complete rations.  

Feed Additives

Ionophores improve feed utilization and gain in cattle by altering rumen fermentation.

They are also coccidiostats. They kill coccidia, primarily during the sporozoite stage.

Lasalocid (Bovatec®) is labeled as a coccidiostat for confined sheep.

Rumensin® is approved for use in goats and cattle.

Feed Additives

Probiotics are just the opposite of antibiotics.

They are living organisms of beneficial bacteria.

Probiotics may improve animal performance by keeping livestock healthy and improving their digestion.

Yeast is a probiotic and has been incorporated into livestock rations.

Ammonium chloride is often added to rations to prevent urinary calculi (kidney stones).

Probiotics

Feedstuffs for sheep and lambs http://www. sheep101.info/201/feedstuffs.html

By-Products and Regionally Available Alternative Feedstuffshttp://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/dairy/as1180w.htm

Resources

Thank you for your attention. Questions?

SMALL RUMINANT PROGRAM