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Scientific Methods for Feeding Cotton Stalks to Ruminant Livestock

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With the current year-on-year increase in cattle and sheep populations, along with large-scale land development and cultivation, the original grazing pastures have sharply decreased. Therefore, solving the winter and spring forage problem for cattle and sheep is the primary issue for developing animal husbandry on all farming and herding farms. Faced with large areas of cotton stalks after picking is complete, livestock raisers can only follow the old method of letting cattle and sheep loose in the fields to graze freely, resulting in massive resource waste. In order to better utilize cotton stalks and achieve the effect of returning them to the field through the animal's digestive tract, a set of scientific methods for feeding cotton stalks to ruminant livestock has been summarized. After trial feeding and observation by livestock raisers on our farm

With the current year-on-year increase in cattle and sheep populations, along with large-scale land development and cultivation, the original grazing pastures have sharply decreased. Therefore, solving the winter and spring forage problem for cattle and sheep is the primary issue for developing animal husbandry on all farming and herding farms. Faced with large areas of cotton stalks after picking is complete, livestock raisers can only follow the old method of letting cattle and sheep loose in the fields to graze freely, resulting in massive resource waste. In order to better utilize cotton stalks and achieve the effect of returning them to the field through the animal's digestive tract, a set of scientific methods for feeding cotton stalks to ruminant livestock has been summarized. After trial feeding and observation by livestock raisers on our farm, the results were remarkable and worthy of wide-scale promotion.

I. Sun-drying the Stalks

Collect and store cotton stalks that have been thoroughly dried and confirmed to be free of mold, stack them in piles, and set aside for use.

II. Crushing the Stalks

Use a grinder fitted with a 1 cm mesh screen for processing; the resulting stalk particles are suitable for cattle and sheep to eat and digest.

III. Soaking and Filtering

Treat the crushed stalk particles to soften the crude fiber of the forage, promote digestion, and remove impurities from the forage. Generally, soak the crushed stalk particles for 4-5 hours, using the method of soaking the next meal right after feeding the previous one. After soaking, filter to remove impurities.

IV. Treating the Soaked Forage

Process the already soaked and cleanly filtered forage according to the following procedures.

1. Add concentrate at 5%-10% of the dry forage weight, such as cornmeal or wheat bran, to enhance palatability for the livestock and increase nutritional content.

2. Supplement with urea to increase non-protein nitrogen, making full use of the rumen bacteria of ruminant livestock to break down nitrogenous substances and synthesize bacterial protein for the animal body to absorb and utilize, thereby achieving the purpose of supplementing protein nutrition for the livestock. The amount of urea added is 1%-2% of the combined weight of the dry forage and the added concentrate.

3. Add compound vitamin powder as required to supplement vitamins in the dry matter. Vitamin A can prevent urinary tract stones caused by keratinization of the urinary tract epithelium resulting from long-term feeding of cotton stalks; vitamin E can enhance antioxidant function and ensure normal reproductive function of the livestock; vitamin C has a detoxifying function and can neutralize toxins in cotton stalks.

5. Stir the forage evenly and then put it into the trough to feed the livestock.

6. Ensure the livestock are supplied with sufficient drinking water.

V. Observations

1. Although cotton stalks are a forage with high lignified crude fiber content, after processing they can improve palatability for the livestock and increase feed intake.

2. Achieve the currently advocated effect of feeding long forage in short pieces and short forage with fine supplementation, making full use of resources and minimizing waste to the greatest extent.

3. Through scientific combination feeding of the livestock, it is possible to ensure that the various nutritional needs of the livestock are met for gaining weight and building muscle, without affecting livestock reproduction and without toxic side effects.

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