These three categories are
1. Energy feeds: maize and bran (secondary meal).
2. Protein feeds: soya bean cake (meal), cottonseed meal, rapeseed meal, fish meal, blood and bone meal etc.
3. Mineral supplements: including phosphorus, calcium and amino acids or premixes.
The formula is generally 50%-70% energy, 20%-35% protein feed and 3%-12% mineral supplements. The proportion of the three feeds varies according to the breed of livestock and the different stages of growth. The simplest formulation is a mineral premix containing maize and soya cake (meal).
However, this is expensive and difficult for the average producer to adopt. To reduce feed costs, bran and wheat flour can be used instead of maize, or cottonseed meal and rapeseed meal instead of soybean meal (meal), but keeping the energy concentration and crude protein content to a minimum.
If synthetic amino acids are added to the formula to balance the amino acids in the diet, the crude fibre protein in the formula will be reduced by 2%, thus reducing the consumption of expensive protein feeds such as soya bean cake (meal) and fish meal and thus reducing costs.
Sheep feeds should highlight their advantages.
1. well mixed and nutritious, also effective in avoiding picky eating.
2. improved palatability of the feed and increased feed intake. Compared to the traditional method of feeding roughage and concentrate separately, pelleted feeds can improve probiotics for sheep reproduction and growth, promote adequate nutrient absorption and increase feed efficiency. It can effectively solve the problem of nutrient supply during periods of negative nutrient balance (e.g. winter).
3. Improves rumen function and effectively prevents digestive tract diseases. The feed ensures normal rumination of the sheep while greatly reducing the energy consumption of rumination.
