Peanut meal for cattle is one of the most popular feeds for the livestock. This feed is very nutritious and has been proven to help the health of the animals. It is also considered a good choice for feeding lactating cows.
Contents
Protein supplement
Peanut meal is a protein supplement that is used to feed cattle of all sizes. It is an inexpensive and palatable source of protein that contains more lysine than other similar supplements.
Protein supplements are important to improve the digestibility of forage when the base forage is of low quality. In addition to improving forage digestibility, these supplements can help increase productivity.
The benefits of using a peanut meal supplement are numerous. Not only do they provide an excellent source of vegetable protein and lysine, they also contain a variety of minerals.
Aside from being a great source of nutrition, peanuts are also high in fiber. Peanut hulls are a good roughage source that contain 7.5 to 8 percent protein.
While peanut hulls are not the best choice as a primary roughage source for beef cattle, they can be incorporated into a variety of supplements. Peanut hulls are an inexpensive and palatable source of energy and fiber.
Carbohydrate and protein availability
Peanut meal is a protein-rich ingredient for all classes of livestock. It can be sold as pellets ranging from 1.5 to 40 mm in diameter. The moisture content of peanut meal is low compared to most commodity feeds.
Peanut meal is produced by mechanical extraction, followed by solvent extraction. Solvent-extracted meals are typically composed of flakes of variable size. They contain 5-20% oil.
Peanuts are the world’s sixth most common oil meal ingredient. Most of the world’s peanut cultivation is located in Asia. However, some countries in Africa also cultivate peanuts. These include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
Peanuts are an important source of protein for beef cattle. They have high protein and oil contents, which may help to provide additional energy for mature cows.
Peanuts are available in both raw and processed forms. Raw peanuts are easily digestible for beef cattle. Whole peanuts have an average chemical composition of 25 percent fat and 65 percent protein.
Nutrient composition
Peanut meal is a protein-rich ingredient used to feed cattle. It is a byproduct of peanut oil extraction. The composition of the nutrient is not antinutritional, so it is safe to feed to most classes of livestock.
Peanut meal is sold in pellet form. These pellets vary in size and can be light gray to dark gray in color. They can range in diameter from 1.5 to 40 mm.
Peanuts grow in many parts of the world. Most are grown in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, and China. They are harvested during monsoon and rainy seasons. A large percentage of the world’s production comes from Shandong province in northern China. In 2015/2016, world production of peanut meal was 6.6 million tonnes.
Peanut meal is usually sold as a supplement to hay. The nutritive value of the meal was tested when it was fed to a group of steers.
Solvent extraction
Solvent extraction is a process that is used to remove oils and fatty acids from plant material. Peanut meal is a byproduct of this procedure. During this procedure, kernels are ground into a paste and then extracted by the use of a solvent, such as hexane or an acid ether extract.
The extraction process has been used for other foods, such as corn and flaxseed. Using the solvent extraction technique, it was found that the resulting product had a higher digestibility compared to its non-solvent-extracted counterpart. This is mainly due to the fact that the non-solvent-extracted peanut meal usually contains around 5-20% oil, whereas the solvent-extracted variety usually has less than 1%.
The process was first developed in France during the 1980s. However, it was not used in the country for many years, as a result of a 1992 explosion in a detoxification facility. Consequently, as of 2016, the process is only used at a single processing plant.
Feeding to lactating cows
Peanut meal is a by-product of the oil extraction process, and is used to feed livestock of all classes. However, it is not widespread in cattle diets because of cost concerns.
Peanut meal is a high protein ingredient with good energy levels. During the early stages of lactation, a milk cow needs 3-7 pounds of energy supplement per day. Although peanuts are not a natural source of energy for the ruminant, they are an excellent choice for a supplement in the diets of mature beef cattle.
In most countries, peanuts are grown as a semi-subsistence crop. The seeds are usually harvested in smallholder farming systems, and therefore, aflatoxin contamination is an important issue. Aflatoxins were a significant concern during the 1970s and 1980s, and almost caused the collapse of the export of peanut meal to developed countries.
