Feeding & nutrition

What animals eat has a major impact on performance, profitability and quality of the end product. For intensive livestock (pigs, poultry and sheep and cattle in feedlots), cereals, legumes and protein meals make up the majority of the diet and are formulated to meet diet specifications. For extensive animals, quality of pastures and year-round supply become major issues.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development supports the livestock industry by conducting a range of research activities, often in collaboration with industry and scientific groups. This research concentrates on determining nutrient requirements, evaluating feed ingredients and studying product quality (for example, eating quality of meat). The identification of alternative feed ingredients is an important activity, since the demand for more traditional feedstuffs will increase.

Articles

  • When sheep need to be supplementary fed, either in a confined space or in a paddock, there are different ways to ensure that they are receiving the correct quantities of feed and wastage is reduced

  • Grain overload is also known as acidosis or grain poisoning.

  • This tool can be used to calculate the supplementary feed for low green feed.

  • This tool can be used to estimate the supplementary feed requirements of a sheep enterprise for a single year. 

  • Sheep are supplementary fed for either survival or production purposes. Efficient supplementary feeding should aim to supply sheep with a diet that is sufficient in digestible energy and protein.

  • Consol lovegrass is a persistent, drought-tolerant, tufted perennial suited to well drained, sandy and loamy soils.

  • This tool can be used to work out the lowest cost of a number of different sheep feeds.

  • Severe skin itching in humans can be caused by bites from species of straw itch mite.

  • As a landholder it is important to plan ahead for the coming season.

  • Crops can be grazed by cattle and go on to produce acceptable yields. Utilising crops for grazing can help fill the autumn-winter feed gap and reduce the cost of supplementary feeding.

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