How is feed classified, and what are the main categories?

Feed is the general term for all food for raising animals; generally, feed mainly refers to the food of animals raised in agriculture or animal husbandry. It includes more than ten varieties of feed ingredients such as soybeans, soybean meal, corn, fish meal, amino acids, miscellaneous meals, whey powder, oils and fats, meat and bone meal, grains, and feed additives. So how is feed classified? What are the main categories?

1. Roughage

Roughage refers to a type of feed in which the crude fiber content of the dry matter is above 18%, mainly including hay, straw, agricultural by-products, as well as distillers' grains and residues and tree leaves whose crude fiber content in the dry matter is above 18%.

2. Green fodder

Green fodder refers to a type of feed with a natural moisture content above 60%, including pasture grasses, leafy vegetables, non-starchy root, tuber, melon and fruit types, aquatic grasses, etc. The crude protein and crude fiber content after drying is not taken into account.

3. Silage

Silage is silage made from fresh natural plant-based feed, as well as silage with an appropriate amount of bran or other additives added, including semi-dry silage with a moisture content of 45%-55%.

4. Energy feed

Energy feed refers to a type of feed in which the crude fiber content of the dry matter is below 18% and the crude protein content is below 20%, mainly including cereal grains, bran, starchy roots, tubers, melons and fruits, oils and fats, grass seeds and tree fruits, etc.

5. Protein supplements

Protein supplements refer to a type of feed in which the crude fiber content of the dry matter is below 18% and the crude protein content is above 20%, mainly including plant protein feed, animal protein feed, single-cell protein feed, etc.

6. Mineral feed

Mineral feed includes industrially synthesized or natural single mineral feeds, mineral feeds blended from multiple minerals, and mineral additive premixes with carriers or diluents added.

7. Vitamin feed

Vitamin feed refers to synthetically produced or purified single vitamins or multivitamins, but does not include natural feeds that contain a relatively large amount of a certain vitamin.

8. Additives

Additives refer to various non-nutritive additive raw materials and their formulated products used to strengthen the feeding effect and facilitate the production and storage of compound feed. Examples include various antibiotics, antioxidants, mold inhibitors, binders, colorants, flavor enhancers, and health and metabolism-regulating drugs.

The above are the eight major categories of feed. These eight categories are classified according to raw materials. In the market, we may also buy fake feed. Adulterated feed is generally ground relatively fine, so its composition cannot be seen; its color is relatively dark or relatively light, and it often becomes damp, moldy, insect-infested, and lumpy due to a relatively high moisture content. Sometimes it is mixed with a large amount of sand or a large amount of low-cost feed. Farmers buying feed should pay attention.

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