Classwork Series and Exercises {Agricultural Science – JSS1}: Ration

Agricultural Science, JSS 1 Second Term Week 2

Topic: Ration

Ration

Ration is the total supply of feed given to an animal in a period of twenty–four hours. In other words, ration is the amount of food taken by an animal per day while diet is the amount of feed regularly given to a consumed by an animal.

Types of Ration

There are different types of ration, they are;

• Maintenance ration

This is the type of ration given to farm animal just to maintain normal functioning of the body system. The ration enables the animal to maintain its body weight but, it cannot be used for production purposes, e.g. straw, hay that are given to remunerate animals during dry season.

• Production ration

This is the type of ration given to farm animals to enable them to produce. Categories of farm animals that require production rations include:

• Hatching animals; for milk production
• Pregnant animals; for growing of foetus
• Fathering animals; for extra addition of meat or flesh
• Broilers; for rapid growth
• Layers: for production of more egg, etc.

• Weaning ration

This is the type of ration given to a young farm animal that has just been removed away from her mother. This is done in order to allow her mother to be mounted again and their young animal to grow very well.

• Balanced ration

This is the feed that satisfies all the nutrient requirements of a particular class of animal. This can also be defined as the feed that contained all essential nutrients in the correct quantity and inadequate proportion for feeding animals.

Factors to be Considered When Formulating Ration

When formulating ration for farm animals the following principles should be considered;

1. The physiological state of the animal
2. The availability of the feed stuff
3. The composition of the nutrient
4. The age of the animal
5. The familiarity of the feed to animal
6. The cost of the feed stuff

For more notes; see: http://passnownow.com/classwork-support/