Types of foods for Local Goats

There are some foods which perform better for goats. It is highly advised to learn about any foods suitable for cattle before trying to breed them. Here are all of them:

1) Foliage fresh green (Green Forage).

Fresh greens are foods given to cattle which are fresh, well-cut (by humans) or not (eaten directly by livestock). Generally consists of fresh greenery herbage derived from grasses, crop seeds / beans kind.

Grasses are very fresh forage palatable, easy to obtain because it has the ability to grow high, especially in the tropics although often cut / eaten directly by livestock. Forage contains a lot of carbohydrates in the form of simple sugars, starch and fructose which plays an important role in generating energy.

Types of Green Forage:

a. Herbage.

Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum), Bengal Grass (Penicum maximum), Setaria grass (Setaria sphacelata), Brachiaria grass (Brachiaria decumbens) Mexican grass (Euchlena mexicana) and grass field that grows in the wild.

b. Beans.

Lamtoro (Leucaena leucocephala), STYLO (sty-losantes guyanensis), centro (Centrocema pubescens), Pueraria phaseoloides, Calopogonium muconoides and other types of Beans.

c. Herbage.

Jackfruit leaves, banana leaves, Turi’s leaf, Chinese petai’s leaf, etc.

2) Straw and forage dry.

Included into this group are all kinds of hay and forage fodder that is cut and dried. Roughly fiber content of 18% (straw, hay and seed shell nuts).

3) Silase.

Silage forage fodder is stored in fresh form is usually derived from plants and grains countryman grasses.

4) Concentrate (feed amplifier).

Example: rice bran, milled corn, coconut cake, salt and minerals.

Benefits of Foods.

Here are some benefits of using materials explained above.

1) Sources of energy. All kinds of foods available above would produce the energy. Any cattle especially goats would regain energy whenever they consume it.

Included in this group are all fodder material that gross protein content less than 20%, with crude fiber concentration below 18%. Based on the type, energy source feed material be divided into four groups, namely:

a. Cluster cereals / grains (corn, wheat, sorghum)

b. Cluster cereals byproducts (waste grinder)

c. Cluster root (yam potato, yams and spin offs)

d. Emerald cluster consisting of several kinds of grass (Elephants Grass, Bengal grass and Setaria Grass).

2) Sources of protein.

The feed material covers all animal feed ingredients with a minimum protein content of 20% (derived from animal / plant).

This group be divided into 3 groups:

a. Forage as a group consisting of agricultural residues on foliage types as a byproduct (jackfruit leaves, banana leaves, potato yam leaves, algae and cake)

b. Group deliberately planted forages, such lamtoro, Turi, Caliandra, Gamal and sentero

c. Clusters produced from animal ingredients (fish meal, bone meal and so on).

3) Source of vitamins and minerals.

Almost all Food need by cattle, both derived from plants and animals, contain several vitamins and minerals with concentrations vary greatly depending on the level of harvesting, age, processing, storage, and types of parts (seeds, leaves and stems). Some treatments such as heating, oxidation and storage of feed materials will affect the concentration of vitamins and minerals. feed ingredients are used as a source of vitamins and minerals are available in the market specially packaged in the form of processed materials that are ready to be used as feed mixtures, such as premix, lime, Ca2PO4 and some minerals.

Some important cautions / Technical Guidelines for Foods.

It has been explained above if foods have high impact in affecting cattle especially goats. Therefore, there are strict rules on how to make foods for the cattle.

Food Requirements.

Feed requirements reflected by the need for nutrition. Number of daily nutritional needs depends on the type of animal, age, stage (growth, adult, pregnant, lactating), health conditions (normal, pain) and the environment (temperature, humidity, air) as well as her weight. Thus, each animal requires a different feed.

Recommendations provided by the International Research (National Research Council) on standardization needs to feed cattle with the figures stated nutritional needs of livestock ruminants. Recommendations can be used as a benchmark to determine the nutritional needs of livestock ruminants, which will be filled by materials suitable feed / feed ingredients that are easily available in the field.

Feed consumption

Normal animals (not in sickness / being productive), eat foods in limited amounts as needed to meet basic living. Then when the animal grows, the level of food production must be increased because their feed consumption will increase as well. Level of feed for cattle is influenced by external factors (environment) and internal factors (condition of the animal itself).

a) Temperature Range

Livestock requires appropriate environmental temperature, either in a state of being productive or not. Environmental conditions are highly variable and closely related to the conditions of the relevant livestock species including cattle, age, level of obesity, body weight, body condition cover (leather, fur), the level of production and the rate of body heat loss due to environmental influences.

Upon a change in environmental conditions, there will be a change in feed consumption. Feed intake usually decreases with increasing temperature environments. The higher the temperature of the environment, there will be excess heat, so the need for food will go down. In contrast, at lower ambient temperature, cattle need more food to increase body temperature. In the state of excessive heat, animals will dispose it by radiation, conduction, convection and evaporation.

b) Palatabilitas.

Palatabilitas is the nature of the feed material as a result of the physical and chemical condition of the materials which is reflected by the type of feed plants such as visibility, odor, flavor (bland, salty, sweet, bitter), the texture and the temperature. Those factor attract and stimulate cattle to consume it. Feed cattle prefer sweet and bland taste than salty / bitter. They also prefer well-textured fresh grass that contains higher nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P).

c) Taste / Flavor.

Taste / Flavor closely related to the state of "hunger". Taste would stimulate the nerve (hyphotalamus) and cause hunger. Cattle will strive to overcome this situation by consume more foods. In this case, overeating would endanger animal itself.

d) Status of physiology.

Physiological status of livestock such as age, sex and health condition (Eg pregnant or ill-health) greatly affects food consumptions.

e) The concentration of Nutrition.

Nutrient concentration have great influence on consumption is the concentration of the energy contained in the foods. Feed energy concentration is inversely proportional to the level of consumption. The higher concentration of energy in the foods, the total consumption will decline. Instead, feed consumption will increase if the concentration of the energy contained in foods is quite low.

f) Form of Feed.

Cattle prefer feed in the form of granules (pellets made from ​​forage or being cut properly) than forages given as is. The reason is simple, It would make it easier to consume and digest. Therefore, the grass should be cut into smaller particles with a size of 3-5 cm.

g) Body’s Weight.

Animal’s weight is directly proportional to the level of feed given to them. The higher the weight, the higher the level of consumption. Nevertheless, we need to know the exact foods for each of them. This can be done by estimating the weight, and then converted to "metabolic weight" which is the animal’s weight. Livestock weight scales can be seen easily. In practice, the weight of cattle can be measured by measuring the body length and chest girth. Then the weight was measured using the formula: Weight = Length (inches) x Bust (inch) / 661. Metabolic weight (body weight) can be calculated by means of increasing the weight with the 0.75. Weight Loss metabolism = (Weight Loss) 0.75.

h) Production.

Production mean weight gain (beef cattle), milk (dairy cattle), labor (farm labor) or leather and fur / wool. The higher the resulting product, the higher the need to feed them. If the amount of feed consumed (supplied) is lower than the requirement, cattle will lose weight (especially during times of peak production) in addition, the production would not optimal.

Animal Feed Nutrients

Each feed material or animal feed, either deliberately or given directly to cattle, contain the elements of highly concentrated nutrients which vary depending on the type, range and feed the material conditions that will affect the texture and compact structure. Nutritional elements contained in the feed material generally consists of water, minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and vitamins. Once consumed by the animals, each elements would help the cattle to maintain good production and keep them life in normal condition. The nutritional elements can be measured through the process of analysis which is done in lab. You may wish to read Characteristics and Types of Goats as it has useful information about the types of Goats.