Animal feed

Some modern agricultural practices, such as fattening cows on grains or in feed lots, have detrimental effects on the environment and animals.

For example, a 2017 drought in Senegal reduced the availability of grazing lands leading to skyrocketing demand and prices for manufactured animal feed, causing farmers to sell large portions of their herds.

It includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and sprouted grains and legumes.

Because of the availability of these products, farmers who use their own grain can formulate their own rations and be assured that their animals are getting the recommended levels of minerals and vitamins,[9] although they are still subject to the Veterinary Feed Directive.

[11] The US Animal Drug Availability Act 1996, passed during the Clinton era, was the first attempt in that country to regulate the use of medicated feed.

[citation needed] In 1997, in response to outbreaks of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, the United States and Canada banned a range of animal tissues from cattle feed.

Feed bans in United States (2009) Canada (2007) expanded on this, prohibiting the use of potentially infectious tissue in all animal and pet food and fertilizers.

According to the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA),[16] there are four basic steps: In agriculture today, the nutritional needs of farm animals are well understood and may be satisfied through natural forage and fodder alone, or augmented by direct supplementation of nutrients in concentrated, controlled form.

[17] Feed additives provide a mechanism through which these nutrient deficiencies can be resolved, improving animal rate of growth, health, and well-being.

Trace minerals carry out key functions in relation to many metabolic processes, most notably as cofactors for enzymes and hormones, and are essential for optimum health, growth and productivity.

For example, supplementary minerals help ensure good growth, bone development, feathering in birds, hoof, skin and hair quality in mammals, enzyme structure and functions, and appetite.

Deficiency of trace minerals affects many metabolic processes and so may be manifested by different symptoms, such as poor growth and appetite, reproductive failures, impaired immune responses, and general ill-thrift.