Fodder
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In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Most animal feed is from plants but some is of animal origin. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves (see forage). It includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and also sprouted grains and legumes. The animal feed industry is a key to supply food for the growing world population, with 635 million tons of feed (compound feed equivalent) produced in 2006 around the world, with an annual growth rate of about 2%. Choice of animal feed can be controversial; some types of feed, such as corn (maize), can also serve as human food, while others such as grass cannot. Some agricultural by-products which are fed to animals may be considered unsavory by human consumers.
Common plants specifically grown for fodder
Types of fodderImage:Fodder factory02.jpg
Fodder factory set up by an individual farmer to produce customized cattle feed
Health concernsIn the past, 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 food source may cause economic losses due to sickness or death of the animals. Sprouted grains as fodderFodder in the form of sprouted grains and legumes can be grown in a small-scale environment. Sprouted grains can greatly increase the nutritional value of the grain compared with feeding the "raw" (ungerminated) grain to stock. See also  Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
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