Forage (from. Fr. fourrage "feed") - in animal husbandry : vegetable food intended for feeding animals ( cattle : goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, rabbits, etc.). Forage usually contains processed vegetative parts of plants (leaves, stems, sometimes roots), with the exception of fruits and seeds. Fodder is used either fresh; or saved. For greater safety fodder process, in most cases - drying .
Content
Crop Fodder
To feed crops include:
- cereals : maize , oats , barley , sorghum , chumiza , etc .;
- legumes : peas , lupine , vetch , etc.
Feed Preservation Methods
To meet the needs of animals in any season, you must save food. The following three methods are mainly used:
- natural drying that makes hay ;
- dehydration - removal of water from ground plants. The result is a packaged granulated forage;
- ensiling is a wet method of preserving fodder based on sour controlled fermentation. Wet fodder tightly squeezed in silos or pressed into blocks. When ensiling, there is a risk of accumulating toxins, harmful fungi or bacteria; there is also the risk of botulism when the bodies of mice, birds or other animals are left in the plant mass. Small lead shot can also significantly increase the toxicity of fodder, dissolving in it during ensiling.
Straw , a by-product of cereal crops, can also be used as fodder to feed cattle during periods when there is no other feed. Meanwhile, this low-nutritional product is often stirred with other feed to improve the appetite of livestock.
In the military
In the past, fodder was the most important resource for ensuring the success of military operations of cavalry and other types of troops, where animals were massively used. In large military units, the provision of forage feed is forage.
See also
- Feed Mixer
- Feed