Sheep Nutrition And Feeding

Mr. M.Geedi

Sheep Nutrition Animal nutrition is the study of feed, including how feed nourishes animal bodies and how feed influences animal health. Animal nutrition focuses on the dietary needs of domesticated animals, primarily those in agriculture and food production. It also concerns with feeding, which is the provision of the materials necessary in the form of feed to support animal life.

Sheep Nutrition Nutrition contributes to wellness and productivity of animals. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with good nutrition. Poor nutrition results in poor reproduction, poor growth, poor productivity, and higher feed costs because of over feeding. Poor nutrition can have injurious impacts on health, causing deficiency diseases, health-threatening conditions, and chronic systemic diseases.

Nutrients and their functions

Nutrients are chemical elements or compounds that an organism needs to live and grow or to be used in its metabolism which must be taken in from its environment.

Sheep need a variety of nutrients to meet their basic needs. They are used to build and repair tissues, regulate body processes and are converted to and used as energy. Sheep must have nutrients in each of six major classes: water, protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals.

Classes of Nutrients Organic nutrients include carbohydrates, fats, proteins (or their building blocks, amino acids), and vitamins. Inorganic chemical compounds such as dietary minerals, water, and oxygen may also be considered nutrients. A nutrient is said to be "essential" if it must be obtained from an external source, either because the organism cannot synthesize it or produces insufficient quantities.

Nutrients needed in larger quantities are called macronutrients and those that are needed in very small amounts are micronutrients. The macronutrients are carbohydrates, fats, fiber, proteins, and water. The micronutrients are minerals and vitamins. The effects of nutrients are dose-dependent and shortages are called deficiencies.

Manipulation of rumen fermentation

The fermentation process in the rumen can be manipulated to improve the utilization of feed by sheep

Increasing the digestibility of complex carbohydrates in poor quality roughages.

Altering the composition of microbial fermentation products (volatile fatty acids).

Decreasing the degradation of certain nutrients in the rumen and encouraging nutrient bypass.

There are different ways of manipulating fermentation of feeds in the reticulo-rumen. Methods that have the largest effect on ruminal fermentation include chopping, heat treatment and chemical treatment.

Chopping: Results in increased digestibility largely because it increases the ease with which microbes can attack feed particles.

Sheep Nutrition Digestibility will be reduced if chopping is too fine. Finely chopped feeds may pass out of the rumen before microbes can adequately digest them.

Heat treatment: The effect of heat treatment depends on treatment conditions. Mild treatment can be used to increase bypass protein. High or moderate temperature treatment for a long time results in reduction of nutritive value, largely due to formation of insoluble protein complexes.

Chemical treatment: Protection of proteins (e.g., formaldehyde treatment of high quality proteins) is used to increase bypass protein for high producing animals. Digestion of structural carbohydrates can be increased by chemical treatment of poor quality hay and straws (e.g., alkali treatment, urea treatment).

Maintenance: All activities and body processes necessary for staying alive and maintaining an animal’s bodyweight. Some specific components include:

Energy to support essential physiological functions.

Maintenance of body temperature.Repair of body tissue. Production: Nutrients supplied above those required for maintenance allow for productive functions such as:

Reproduction: Pregnancy and delivery make demands on the dam which should be met largely from her diet. The fetus increases in size quickly during the last third of gestation, drawing on the body reserves of the dam if she is not fed adequately.

Growth: Any growth requires nutrients; sheep require large quantities of energy and protein during the main period of growth between weaning and attaining mature body weight.

Nutrient Lactation: Milk production requires high levels of energy, protein, and water.

Extra activity: Livestock in pastoral systems walk long distances in search of feed, particularly in the dry season. Animals may walk 10–15 km each day, which requires a great deal of energy.

Water

Water is the most abundant compound in the world. Over two thirds of the world’s surface is covered with water. Since this nutrient is essential for sustaining life, animals must have frequent intakes of water to remain alive. Even animals such as camels, which can go for long periods of time without drinking, have to have water.

Nutrition This nutrient provides the basis for all the fluid of the animal’s body. The blood stream must be a liquid in order for circulation to occur.

Digestion requires moisture for the breakdown of the nutrients and the movement of the feed through the digestive tract. Water is need to produce milk. It is needed to provide fluid for the manufacture of all the bodily fluids. It provides the cells with pressure that allows them to maintain their shape.

Nutrition

It helps the body maintain a constant temperature. Another vital function of water is that of flushing the sheep’s body of wastes and toxic materials. This nutrient is so vital that over half the animal’s body is composed of water. A loss of 20 percent of this water will result in the death of the animal.

Protein Protein can make up to around 15-16 percent of an animal’s ration and may be the most costly part of the ration. Proteins are composed of compounds known as amino acids. Amino acids are often said to be the building blocks of life because they go into the formation of tissues that provide growth for the animal. Muscle production in particular is that provide growth for the animal. Muscle production in particular is dependent on the amino acids found in protein. To a certain degree, protein is also used to provide energy.

Protein Like water, some animals need larger amounts of protein than others. Young, rapidly growing sheep need more protein than mature sheep. This is because the amino acids in the protein are needed to build muscle, skin, hair, bones, and all of the other cells that go into the growth process.

Proteins: sheep require a considerable amount of protein because their bodies and products (meat, milk) are composed of high levels of protein. Most common feeds are low in protein, and supplying proteins to sheep is a major challenge.

Protein Protein is costly, and the higher the percentage of protein in a feed, the greater the cost. Animals may not be able to digest all the protein in a particular feed.

The total amount of protein in a feed is called the crude protein content. The amount of crude in a feed is calculated by analyzing the nitrogen content and multiplying that percentage by 6.25.

Protein

Digestible protein is the protein in a feed that can be digested and used by the animal. The digestible is usually about 50 – 80 percent of the crude protein.

Protein can come from basically two sources: animal and plant. Carnivores (animals that eat other animals), such as dogs, cats, and foxes, get almost all of their protein from meat. After all, the muscles in an animal’s body are primarily composed of protein and can serve as feed for another anima.

Nutrition

Omnivores (an animal that eats both plants and animals), such as human and pigs, can get protein from both plants and animals. Animals that eat only plants are called herbivores, and they must get protein exclusively from plants. Most feedstuffs that are rich in protein come from plant sources.

Protein Protein: Protein consists of amino acids that are the basic units of all body cells. The sheep's body requires protein for growth, reproduction, milk production, disease resistance, and general maintenance. Mature sheep, like other ruminant animals, rely on rumen microorganisms to synthesize essential amino acids

Protein . Rumen microbes can utilize either nitrogen (N) of feed origin or non protein nitrogen (NPN) to synthesize amino acids and protein to meet the requirements of the host animal.

Microbial protein and undigested feed protein reaching the small intestine are broken down to amino acids that are absorbed and utilized by sheep. Protein deficiencies in the diet of sheep result in depleted stores in muscles, retarded fetal development, low birth weights, reduced growth, and depressed milk production.

Carbohydrates The main source of energy from animals comes from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They include sugars, starches, and cellulose, and are the major organic compounds in plant. Almost all carbohydrates come from plants and are developed by photosynthesis. By weight, plants are composed of about 75 percent carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates The most important source of carbohydrates for agricultural animals is grains. Most of the million of ton of corn grown in the country each year go into the production of livestock feed. Other Grains such as wheat, oats, and barley are also used. Feeds that are high in grain content are known as concentrates because of the high concentration of carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates Carbohydrates can be classified as simple sugars or as complex carbohydrates such as starch and cellulose. Starch is the major component of grains and is readily available for digestion by both monogastrics and ruminants. Cellulose is often referred to as fiber and is not broken down by mammalian enzymes. Cellulose is degraded by enzymes produced by micro-organisms in the rumen.

Carbohydrates Sheep need a supply of carbohydrates in the diet at all ages. Carbohydrates consumed in excess of an sheep’s requirements are converted and stored as fat.

Fats Fats are part of a group of organic compounds known as lipids. These compounds will not dissolve in water but will dissolve in certain organic solvents. Besides fats and oils, lipids also include cholesterol. Fats are found in both plants and animals. They serve as concentrated storage places for energy. Oil within seeds such as peanuts and soybeans is an example of plant fats.

Fats Fats serve the purpose of providing energy for the animal and of storing excess energy. When sheep consumes more energy (especially in the form of fats) than it needs to provide for all the needed bodily functions, the excess is stored in the form of fat. When the body does not take enough energy to perform the normal bodily functions, these reserves of fat are used.

Minerals Minerals are the only group of nutrients besides water that are inorganic. Although they provide only a small portion of the total feed intake, they are vitally important. This group serves the important role of providing structural support for the sheep. Bones are formed by a combination of calcium and phosphorus.

Minerals Minerals provide other essential needs. They aid in the construction of muscles, blood cells, internal organs, and enzymes. Sheep with a deficiency in minerals never develop properly and are more susceptible to diseases.

The mineral elements required by sheeps include seven macro minerals (required in relatively large amounts in the diet) and nine micro minerals of trace minerals (required in very small amounts in the diet).

Mineral The macro minerals are cobalt, copper, fluorine, iron iodine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc. These inorganic, crystalline, solid element make up 3-5 percent of the body on a dry weight basis, with calcium (approximately one – half the body mineral) and phosphorus (approximately one – fourth the body mineral) accounting for the largest portion of the total mineral content.

Vitamins Vitamins are considered to be micronutrients. This means that the body needs them in very small amounts. Even though only small amounts are required, vitamins are essential for life. They are essential for the development of normal body processes of growth, production, and reproduction. They are also vitally important in providing the Sheep with the ability to fight stress, disease, and to maintain good health.

Vitamins There are 16 known vitamins. The B vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. Vitamin A is not found in feeds, but it is converted by the animal’s body from the provitamin carotene, which is found in green, leafy for ages from pastures, hay, silage, and dehydrated legumes (alfalfa).

Vitamin Vitamin C is essential in the formation of the protein collagen. Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits; green, leafy forages; and well cured hays. Animals normally can synthesize sufficient quantities of vitamin C to meet their needs. Vitamin D is sometimes referred to as the “sunshine vitamin” since both animal and plant sources depend on ultraviolet light to make a form of vitamin D.

Vitamin This form of the vitamin is converted by the liver and kidneys to forms that are usable. Animals make their own provided the basis for synthesis. Vitamin K is utilized to form the enzyme prothrombin, which in turn helps to form blood clots. Deficiencies rarely occur because vitamin K is synthesized in the rumen and in the mono gastric intestinal tract. Green forages, good – quality hays, fish meal, and synthetic forms of vitamin K can be used to increase the level in the diet.