Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Junior Secondary School 2

Animal feeds and feeding

Date: 9th-13th of January 2023

Class: JSS 2

Term: 2nd Term

Week: 1

Subject: Agricultural Science

Topic: Animal feeds and feeding

Duration:45 minutes

Teaching Aid: A chart

Reference Book: WABP Junior secondary Agriculture for Nigerian School 1 by Anthony Youdeowei et al

Behavioural Objectives: By the end of this topic, students should be able to

  1. Define animal feed
  2. Describe the types of feed

Presentation

Step 1: Teacher welcome students back to school

Step 2: Teacher introduces and explains new topic

Step 3: Teacher writes note on the board

Step 4: Teacher evaluates students

Step 5: Teacher marks students' notes and give assignment

Previous knowledge: Students have been taught livestock farming

Content

The food given to farm animals is called livestock feed or simply put ‘feed’. The livestock farmer must supply his animals with the appropriate quantity and quality of feed for:

  1. Growth
  2. Repair of worn out tissues
  3. Energy
  4. General well being of animals
  5. High production of animal produce such as milk, meat, and egg production

TYPES OF FEED

Animals are fed with different kind of feeds which vary in composition and uses. Hence, they are classified according to the quantity of fibre and moisture in the feed into four. These are:

  1. Basal or energy feeds
  2. Concentrates
  3. Roughages
  4. Supplements and additive

Basal of Energy Feeds

Basal feeds are feeds made to supply energy to the animals. They have crude fibre content less than 18%. They usually make up 60-90% of livestock ration. Examples are maize, rice, millet, guinea corn, roots and tubers like yam and cassava. Basal feed must be supplemented to meet the growth and maintenance need of farm animals.

Characteristics

It is high in carbohydrates or starchy food

It is low in fibre

It is low in protein

It lacks vitamins and importance minerals.

It is highly digestible,

It is acceptable to most farm animals especially the monogastrics.

Concentrates

These are feed or feed mixtures which provide all the primary dietary needs of farm animals. It may be either whole grain feeds or mixture of basal and supplement feed. Concentrates may be high in energy called energy concentrates or high in protein called protein concentrates. They have high nutritive value because they are important sources of energy, protein, minerals and vitamins. Examples are blood meal, bone meal, fish meal, groundnut cake, palm kernel cake, oyster shell cake, cottonseed cake and coconut cake. They are usually fed to monogastrics but can be used as supplements for some herbivores

Characteristics

It has low fibre content

It may be high in protein or energy

It is highly digestible

It is low in minerals

Roughages

Roughages are feeds which are high in fibre content. They add bulk to animal feeds and are relatively less digestible. Roughages are poor in nutritive value hence, animals fed on roughage need supplements. Roughages are fed mostly to ruminants (cattle, sheep and goat). This is because other animals cannot digest hem. They include the vegetative part of plants or dry (preserved) vegetative matters. Roughages include:

  1. Succulent feed: This is also called fresh forage or wet roughages. It include grasses, legumes, cereals and root crops grown for soilage (grazing) or silage. Silage refers to succulents which are stored in air-light containers such as silos in order to preserve their freshness.
  2. Fodder or dry roughages
  3. Hay: This is the young and succulent parts of grasses, legumes and other plant cut and dried for feeding animals. It is a cheap source of food for ruminants during the dry season. It is higher in nutrient than straw.
  4. Straw: This refers to the parts of harvested crops or grasses cut and stored for future use. After the ripe seeds have been harvested the remains of plants are cut, dried and fed to animals during the dry season.
  • Chaff: This is the husk separated from grain during threshing. It is got from threshed grains such as maize, rice, cowpea an others.

Characteristics

They are high in fibre

They are low in protein and digestible carbohydrate.

They have poor digestibility

Supplements and Additives

Feed supplements are added to the main feed to supply nutrients that are lacking in the main feed or diet of the animals. They may be supplied separately or mixed with the feeds. Feed supplement include:

Cotton seed cake,

Soya bean meal,

Groundnut cake,

Egg shell meal,

Oyster shell meal,

Bone meal,

Fish meal,

Salt licks,

Lime stone,

Vitamins.

Evaluation: differentiate between succulents and concentrates

Assignment:



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