In the past, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease") spread through the inclusion of ruminant meat and bone meal in cattle feed due to prion contamination. This practice is now banned in most countries where it has occurred. Some animals have a lower tolerance for spoiled or moldy fodder than others, and certain types of molds, toxins, or poisonous weeds inadvertently mixed into a feed source may cause economic losses due to sickness or death of the animals. The US Department of Health and Human Services regulates drugs of the Veterinary Feed Directive type that can be present within commercial livestock feed.
Increasing intensities and frequencies of drought events put rangeland agriculture under pressure in semi-arid and arid geographic areas. Innovative emergency fodder production concepts have been reported, such as bush-based animal fodder production in Namibia. During extended dry periods, some farmers have used woody biomass fibre from encroacher bush as their primary source of cattle feed, adding locally-available supplements for nutrients as well as to improve palatability.7891011
Fodder in the form of Sprouted cereal grains such as barley, and legumes can be grown in commercial quantities. Sprouted grains can significantly increase the nutritional value of the grain compared with feeding the ungerminated grain to stock.12 They use less water than traditional forage, making them ideal for drought conditions. Sprouted barley and other cereal grains can be grown hydroponically in a carefully-controlled environment.13 Hydroponically-grown sprouted fodder at 150 mm tall with a 50 mm root mat is at its peak for animal feed. Although barley is a grain, barley sprouts are approved by the American Grassfed Association as livestock feed.
"Global Feed Statistics". International Feed Industry Federation. Retrieved 18 March 2024. https://ifif.org/global-feed/statistics/ ↩
Devlamynck, Reindert; Meers, Erik (May 2018). "Valorization of agricultural wastewater streams into an alternative protein source duckweed". https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330586208 ↩
Daly 2019:Mr Pow said his innovative farming system could help livestock producers become more profitable while helping to address the impact of climate change. - Daly, Jon (18 October 2019). "Poo-eating beetles and charcoal used by WA farmer to combat climate change". ABC.net.au. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-10-18/wa-farmer-uses-beetles-and-charcoal-to-combat-climate-change/11613846 ↩
"Fodder trees for more milk and income" (PDF). Department for International Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2015-09-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20150927051732/http://r4d.dfid.gov.uk/PDF/Outputs/Forestry/DFID_impact_case_study_Fodder_trees_FINAL%5B1%5D.pdf ↩
Medeiros, João (9 March 2014). "How AgriProtein makes chicken food from maggots". Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/food-of-larvae ↩
Giec, A; Skupin, J (1988). "Single cell protein as food and feed". Nahrung. 32 (3): 219–29. doi:10.1002/food.19880320302. PMID 3292921. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Mupangwa, Johnfisher; Lutaaya, Emmanuel; Shipandeni, Maria Ndakula Tautiko; Kahumba, Absalom; Charamba, Vonai; Shiningavamwe, Katrina Lugambo (2023), Fanadzo, Morris; Dunjana, Nothando; Mupambwa, Hupenyu Allan; Dube, Ernest (eds.), "Utilising Encroacher Bush in Animal Feeding", Towards Sustainable Food Production in Africa: Best Management Practices and Technologies, Sustainability Sciences in Asia and Africa, Singapore: Springer Nature, pp. 239–265, doi:10.1007/978-981-99-2427-1_14, ISBN 978-981-99-2427-1, retrieved 2023-07-13 978-981-99-2427-1 ↩
Shiningavamwe, Katrina Lugambo; Lutaaya, Emmanuel; Mupangwa, Johnfisher (2024-05-14), Feed intake, growth performance and carcass characteristics of Damara lambs fed bush-based rations from four encroacher bush species, doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4241387/v1, retrieved 2024-06-13 https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4241387/v1 ↩
"Report on the Bush-to-Feed Pilot Projet in the African Wild Dog Community Forest". Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. 2018. http://www.forestry.gov.na/documents/32982/937523/NAFOLA+Report+on+bush/8be204be-eb4f-4156-bac7-610ae9c35315?version=1.0 ↩
Matthys, Donald (2018-11-30). "Manual on how to produce animal feed from local encroached bush launched". Namibia Economist. https://economist.com.na/40365/agriculture/manual-on-how-to-produce-animal-feed-from-local-encroached-bush-launched/ ↩
"Turning bush to feed in face of drought". The Namibian. 2016-10-18. Archived from the original on 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20200625070201/https://www.namibian.com.na/157045/archive-read/Turning-bush-to-feed-in-face-of-drought ↩
Sneath, Roger; McIntosh, Felicity (October 2003). Review of Hydroponic Fodder Production for Beef Cattle. Meat & Livestock Australia. p. 15. ISBN 1740365038. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help) 1740365038 ↩
Sneath, Roger; McIntosh, Felicity (October 2003). Review of Hydroponic Fodder Production for Beef Cattle. Meat & Livestock Australia. ISBN 1740365038. Hydroponic sprouts may have profitable application in intensive, small-scale livestock situations with high value outputs, where land and alternative feed costs are high, and where the quality changes (eg less starch, more lysine, vitamins, etc) due to sprouting are advantageous to the particular livestock. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help) 1740365038 ↩