Forage crops: cereals, legumes. List of fodder crops

Agriculture can not be imagined without livestock. Here you can distinguish goat breeding, poultry farming, horse breeding, cattle breeding (dairy, meat, milk and meat), sheep breeding, rabbit breeding, pig breeding, beekeeping, dog breeding and other less common branches. And if a person decided to do livestock farming, then first he needs to think about what he will feed his farm. For this purpose fodder crops of plants are quite suitable. They can be grown on their own so that they do not spend money on the purchase of products for animals. It is about plants that can become food, and now we will talk.

Let's start with the most famous.

Forage crops. The list of plants considered in the article

• A stern watermelon.
• Stern pumpkin.
• The aft zucchini.
• Rye.
• Barley.
• Oats.
• Soybeans.
• Lupine.

Melon Crops

Melon fodder crops are, first of all, watermelon, zucchini and pumpkin.

Stern Watermelon

This is an annual plant of the pumpkin family. The weight of his fetus is from 10 to 30 kg. Feed these fruits to cattle in fresh or siloed form. The watermelon contains proteins (0.3 kg per 100 kg of product), carbohydrates, which are easily digested, that is, glucose, fructose and sucrose, folic acid, pectin (0.36-0.75 kg per 100 kg of product), and Vitamins D, A, C, B and iron.

Fodder pumpkin

This plant also belongs to the family of pumpkin and is one-year old. Fetal weight reaches 30 kg.

The fruits of this plant have a large amount of sugar (12 kg per 100 kg of product), proteins (0.4 kg per 100 kg of fruit), vitamins E, PP, C, as well as provitamin A.

This product is great as a food for cows, pigs and chickens. In the first, it increases the fat content of milk and increases its quantity, and the latter, when feeding pumpkin, begin to carry more eggs.

Aft zucchini

Melon fodder crops are also zucchini. They sing earlier than the plants listed above, which is their undoubted advantage. Moreover, they can even be fed to animals unripe, pre-steamed or chopped.

Marrows - melons and gourds, which contain proteins in an amount of 0.7-1 kg per 100 kg of product. These substances are not only in the fruits, but also in the tops of the plant (0.8 kg per 100 kg).

Cereal fodder crops

Rye, barley and oats are the first group to this group. All grain crops have a number of disadvantages. This is a small amount of calcium, necessary for the normal development of the animal, and also a relatively low digestibility of the proteins contained in the grains.

Rye

In 100 kg of grain of this plant contains 10.1 kg of proteins, 2.3 kg of fiber, 1.9 kg of fat, 66.1 kg of BEV (nitrogen-free extractives), 1.8 kg of ash, and 16 kg of water.

Rye animals do not like to eat in large quantities. This is due to the tart taste it possesses. Also eating too much rye can lead to digestive system disorders. This especially applies to freshly harvested grains. Therefore, in the ration of cattle or pigs, the amount of rye eaten should not exceed 30% of the total volume of food.

In addition, one should take into account the fact that the grains of this plant contain a fairly small amount of digestible proteins. This should be compensated by the presence in the diet of protein-rich foods, for example, it can be leguminous fodder crops.

Barley

100 kg of barley grains contain 10.8 kg of proteins, 4.8 kg of fiber, 2.2 kg of fat, 65.6 kg of BEV, 2.8 kg of ash and 13 kg of water.

This plant has a lot of flaws. They can be considered a low content of calcium, phosphorus, vitamins, as well as insufficient protein content. The amount of fiber, on the contrary, is increased, so this food should be used only in combination with products in which this substance is low (wheat, corn).

However, despite all the negative aspects, barley is widely used as a feed for farm animals, as it helps to make meat and milk more quality.

Young piglets can give the grains of this plant in roasted form, and pigs - in ground. Dairy cows are often fed barley dough or flour.

Oats

100 kg of oats contain 9.1 kg of proteins, 10.4 kg of fiber, 4.9 kg of fat, 57.3 kg of BEV, 4 kg of ash and 13 kg of water.

A film of oat grains contains a very large amount of fiber, which worsens the digestibility of this product.

Standard this food is considered for horses. In the ration of cattle and pigs, it can be 40%, birds - 30%. However, it should not be given to milk cows during the production of oil, nor to pigs at the last stage of fattening.

Bean crops as a feed for farm animals

Leguminous fodder crops, names Which are known to everybody, are soy and lupine.

The grains of each of these plants have a huge amount of proteins. This is especially true for soy.

The chemical composition of beans is approximately the same. For 100 kg of soy is 33.6 kg of proteins, 5.7 kg of fiber, 17.4 kg of fat, 26.8 kg of BEV, 4.6 kg of ash and 11 kg of water. In 100 kg of lupine contains 27.5 kg of proteins, 5.3 kg of fat, 12.8 kg of fiber, 35.8 kg of BEV, 2.7 kg of ash and 14 kg of water.

The fodder crops listed above are valuable not only for high protein content, but also for a large number of amino acids, B vitamins and ascorbic acid, calcium, phosphorus, copper, iron and zinc.

But in spite of their nutritional value and benefit, the percentage of legumes in the diet should not exceed 25%, since an excessive amount of this product causes problems with the gastrointestinal tract, including swelling, and can provoke miscarriage in a pregnant female.

The most common and often used bean feed is soy. It has a large number of proteins that are close to animals, as well as amino acids, which ensure a normal metabolism in livestock.

It is recommended to use these beans as a bird food, only after having subjected them to heat treatment. However, it should be noted that the use of too high temperatures leads to a decrease in product quality. Cattle can be given raw soybean grains.

Lupine exists in three varieties: white, yellow and blue. Yellow and white varieties are sweet, they differ from blue with less alkaloid content (0.002-0.12 kg per 100 kg of product, in contrast to 3.87 kg in blue). The largest number of proteins among the three species is yellow lupine. Also all varieties of this plant contain irreplaceable amino acids, which the body does not produce by itself. In these grains also there are vitamins and microelements.

The best option - the use of lupine beans as a feed for pigs, in the diet of which there is a lot of potatoes. The disadvantage of this forage crop can be considered high fiber content, which should be taken into account when calculating the amount of this feed in the ration of farm animals. In the menu of young piglets, lupine beans should be no more than 18-20% of the total food, adult pigs - no more than 12%.

When deciding to introduce this food into the ration of the animal, one must also pay attention to the fact that, due to the alkaloid content in it, it gives the milk and oil a bitter taste. Also, the ingestion of these substances in large quantities can cause digestive system disorders. Prevent these negative phenomena by pre-treatment of beans. To get rid of alkaloids, lupine grain should be soaked in cold water, then steamed for an hour and rinsed again. The processed forage should be used within a day, otherwise it will deteriorate.

However, the shortcomings of this plant, associated with the content of alkaloids, are now eliminated by breeding varieties whose grains contain almost no such substances.