How whenever a topic is addressed, it is necessary to clarify some concepts. From the Royal Spanish Academy we obtain the following definitions:

• Ration: Part or portion of food that is given to both people and animals.
• Food: Each of the substances that a living being takes or receives for its nutrition.
• Ingredient: Component that enters with others in a remedy, a drink, a stew or other compound.
• Nutrient: It is what nourishes and to nourish is to increase the substance of the animal or vegetable body through food, repairing the parts that are being lost due to catabolic actions.

RUMINANT DIGESTION

Knowing the digestive system of ruminants and its function will allow us to know what type of food we should provide them. Ruminants, such as cows, sheep and goats are herbivores, have a stomach with four divisions (of which the rumen stands out) and are the only ones capable of digesting cellulose (fiber) at the ruminal level.

It is noteworthy that the ruminant when it is born does not have a functional rumen, and must undergo an adaptation process. Therefore, the addition of fiber in the diet in early stages should be gradual to stimulate rumen development. Rumination is the regurgitation of food, followed by remastication, resalivation, and further swallowing.

NUTRITIONAL NEEDS OF RUMINANTS

The nutritional needs of the animals must be covered by the food offered to them.

The nutritional requirements of animals can be divided into:

• Maintenance: are the animal's needs to develop its physical activity and maintain its vital functions. They vary according to the live weight of the animal.
• Increase
• Gestation
• Production: are the nutritional requirements of cattle to sustain a given level of production.

It should be noted that the lack or excess of a nutrient in the cattle diet will produce an imbalance that, in addition to affecting production, can compromise the health of the animals. Therefore, when formulating the ration, its energy-protein balance must be considered and that the fiber needs are covered, to avoid imbalances at the ruminal level.

LIVESTOCK FEEDING

It consists of providing the animals with all the necessary nutrients to maintain themselves and reach the production levels desired by the farmer, also keeping them in good health. Nutritional needs are not the same for each animal, since they are affected by the level of production, genetics and environmental conditions, among others.

In the day-to-day operations of the farms, the global requirements must be differentiated from the real contribution, establishing a safety margin. This margin is established in order to ensure that all the animals eat, since within the herds there is dominance and not all have access to the same amount of food.

Calf feeding

Once the calf is born, it should ingest colostrum as soon as possible, directly from the mother or in a bottle or bucket. This feeding will last until weaning. In this period of time, you will be given a liquid diet (colostrum Ymilk) and solid (I think and fodder). The first three days should be given colostrum. From the fourth day, quality milk replacers (high levels of protein derived from dairy by-products) that are available on the market should be provided. After two weeks of life, solid food should be offered at will or in small amounts several times a day. This feed should consist of a starter feed accompanied by good quality dry grass.

rearing feeding

In females, the period is from weaning to parturition. Being a prolonged period, animals have different nutritional requirements throughout it. As long as the calves are not 4 months old, the diet is based on quality dry fodder and feed with a high protein content. From 4 months, silage can be included, although in small quantities.

Between 6 months and a year of life, they can be given any type of forage and high-protein feed, in larger quantities than in the previous stage.

From one year of age, they can be fed with any type of fodder and concentrates, in the form of a ration. It must respect a balance between energy and protein and must allow the animals to continue their development, but not gain weight.

Feeding of cows in production

The feeding in this stage depends on the moment of the productive cycle in which the cow is and the level of production. Lactation, on average, lasts 10 months and is followed by a drying period of approximately two months. The amount of milk produced reaches its peak at 45 days and then gradually decreases until it dries up. In this stage, the maintenance, production, gestation (last third) and growth (until the first calving) requirements are taken into consideration.

The energy in the ration is provided by carbohydrates, in the form of sugars and starch (rapid availability) and digestible fiber (slow availability). Fats also provide energy, but their concentration in the ration must be limited (3-5% of the dry matter of the ration). In the first stage of lactation, given the low feed intake by cows, they lose body condition. Once the lactation peak has passed, energy needs decrease, so the percentage of concentrate in the ration can be reduced.

The protein ingested by the cow can have different origins, and is used by rumen microorganisms for the formation of microbial protein. This is the protein truly used by the cow. Non-protein nitrogen contributes to the formation of microbial protein. In the first period of lactation, a good portion of the protein in the ration must be bypassed (protein that escapes ruminal fermentation) to avoid imbalances in the digestive system of the cows.

dry cow feeding

In this period, it is necessary to cover the requirements of the animal and avoid variations in its body condition, due to the complications that this could cause during childbirth and the stage after it. Sufficient fiber should be provided to dry cows and grain intake should be limited. In the weeks around calving, the animals must gradually get used to the ration they will consume once they calve.

RATIONING SYSTEMS

There are three rationing systems, which differ in some respects:

• NRC 2001 (National Research Council, USA)
• INRA 2007 (Institute National de la Recherche Agroalimentaira, France)
• CNCPS (Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System, USA)

Advice of Commercial Mida

For cattle feed there is no recipe. The formulation of the diet requires knowledge and advice. For the elaboration of the ration, always use quality raw materials, since this will be reflected in the production to be obtained and in the sanitary state of the herd. Carrying out analyzes of silos and feed periodically will allow having a more real knowledge of the nutrients provided in the diet.