Page 106 - Agriculture_Form_Three

Agriculture for Secondary Schools

Chapter

Five

Feeding of livestock

Introduction
Feeding of farm animals is one of the major activities that a livestock farmer has
to do every day. Animals must be given good quality feeds that shall meet all their

nutritional needs at all times. In this chapter, you will learn about the nutrients in
livestock feeds, digestive systems in livestock in relation to types of feeds they utilise,
types of livestock feeds, livestock feeding systems and supplementary feeding. You
will also learn about good livestock feeding practices. The competencies developed
from this chapter will enable you to carry out good livestock feeding practices hence
maximise returns.

Nutrients in livestock feeds

Nutrients are chemical compounds capable of being utilised by animals for
metabolism. Nutrients are normally categorised into six groups based on their
functions in the body. These are carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils (lipids),
vitamins, minerals and water. Nutrients provide either energy, structural or
regulatory functions. Animals require nutrients to support all the vital processes

in their bodies. These processes include maintenance of body functions such as
muscular activities, heartbeat, respiration or provision of tissue growth/repair,
reproduction and production of products desired by the farmer, for example, milk
and eggs. Knowledge on the nutrients and their functions in the body is presented
in this section.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates may simply be described as sugar, cellulose and starches that are

found in foods and living tissues. They are organic compounds containing carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen. In your biology class, you learnt about carbohydrates. Rich
sources of carbohydrates for animal feeds are obtained from cereals and starchy
tubers, mainly in the form of starches. However, the main sources of carbohydrates
for forage eating animals such as cattle, sheep and goats are grasses and other
forages, mainly in the form of cellulose.

Student’
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