Animal Feed

Animal feed is the food given to animals which are domestic often refers to fodder in the course of care and management of farm animals by humans for profit. Various feeds include poultry feed, sheep husbandry, pet food, cattle feeding, equine nutrition and bird food. Good animal feeding plays a vital role in animal health & welfare and in the production of safe and quality products of animal origin. The increasing demand for proteins of animal origin has led to intensification of livestock production, mainly based on the use of industrial compound feed. This has led to an increasing use of selected feed grains and fodder seeds, pesticides and fertilizers, new and unconventional materials in the production of feed such as biofuel by-products and several others agro-industrial by-products. Animal feed plays an important part in the food chain and the composition and quality of the livestock products (milk, meat and eggs) that people consume. Animal feeds are either classified as fodder, forage, or mixed feeds. Fodders could be classified as roughages (fresh cut forage, hay or dry forage, straw, root crops, Stover and silage) and concentrates such as grains, legumes and by-products of processing. Safety is perhaps one of the most important reasons for feed analysis by the manufacturers and consumers. Storage duration and conditions for feed samples, as well as of stable and unstable parameters are important in sample preparation.