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In agriculture today, the nutritional needs of farm animals are well understood and may be satisfied through natural forage alone, or augmented by direct supplementation of nutrients in concentrated, controlled form. The nutritional quality of feed is influenced not only by the nutrient content, but also by many other factors such as feed presentation, hygiene, digestibility, and effect on intestinal health.
Animal well-being is highly dependent on feed that reflects well-balanced nutrition. Some modern agricultural practices, such as fattening cows on grains or in feedlots, have detrimental effects on the environment and animals. For example, increased corn or other grain in feed for cows, makes their microbiomes more acidic, weakening their immune systems and making cows a more likely vector for E.coli. While other feeding practices can improve animal impacts.
When an environmental crisis strikes farmers or herders, such as a drought or extreme weather driven by climate change, farmers often have to shift to more expensive manufactured animal feed, which can negatively affect their economic viability.
The quality of the prepared animal feed ultimately depends on the quality of the material such as the grain or grass used, the raw material should be of very good quality. Commercial feed manufacturing is an industrial process and therefore should follow HACCP procedures. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines HACCP as “a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement, and handling, to manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of the finished product
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