Some Aspects of Animal Feed Sampling and Analysis

Animal feed plays an important part in the food chain and the composition and quality of the livestock products (milk, meat and eggs) that people consume. Animal feeds are either classified as fodder, forage, or mixed feeds. Fodders could be classified as roughages (fresh cut forage, hay or dry forage, straw, root crops, stover and silage) and concentrates such as grains, legumes and by-products of processing. Safety is perhaps one of the most important reasons for feed analysis by the manufacturers and consumers. Storage duration and conditions for feed samples, as well as of stable and unstable parameters are important in sample preparation. A number of sub-samples for preparing final sample for various categories of feed products are recommended. Some analysis conducted on feed include; dry matter, crude ash, ash insoluble in acid (sand), crude protein, crude fat, fibre analysis, starch, gross energy, minerals. More are amino acids (excluding tryptophan), amino acids (tryptophan), fatty acids, vitamins, reducing sugar, mycotoxins, and pesticides. Various types of samples depending on their purposes and uses are available from check, standard, working and referee samples to composite types. Sampling errors in procedures exists and can be minimized by standards or purposes of the analysis, appropriate sampling equipment and using the right quantity of materials