Use of commercial feeds on domestic animals and pets provides rare nutrients, which are otherwise not available in the naturally available meals. It is therefore advisable to supplement natural feeds with processed feeds for better health of the animals.
Pet and Feed Production Process
Production of animal feeds involves a series of processes aimed at mixing the correct quantities of raw materials to give a good aggregate feed. Raw material is fed into elevated hoppers or bins. Recommended mixtures are weighed based on the specific formulations. Grinding then follows using special equipment called hammer mills. Mixing is done using mechanical mixers without requiring any heat addition. Here water is added to regulate the moisture content of the mixture. The conditioning process follows and involves injection of heated steam for making the mixture pliable before pressing. The material can then be made into pellets and then cooled with air to lower temperatures.
Raw Materials for Pet and Feed Production
The raw materials used in the manufacture of animal feeds vary widely depending on the targeted animals. Feed for pigs may be significantly different from that used for goats or sheep or even horses. However, oil-pressing byproducts such as oil cakes and meals are the most commonly used sources of protein for animals. They are obtained from oil extraction such as soybean, cottonseed, sunflower seed, linseed, palm kernels and groundnuts are some of the materials used. Byproducts of grain such as gluten, distiller’s grain, malt sprouts, wheat mill feed, rape meal and fruit by products are also used.
Nutritional Requirements of Pet Foods
Similar to humans, good developpment of animals requires a good diet. The only difference is the different metabolic processes of animals. They also require proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and trace elements in different forms, which is why the commercial animal feeds are recommended. The Guar meal is one of the recently developed solutions for providing proteins to animals. Husks of the guar used in animal feeds contain 50% protein digestible by cows and increases the milk output of cattle.
Important Additives in Feed Production
Additives in animal feeds include almond hulls, rice straw, date seeds, beans pods and even avocado skins. These serve to provide trace elements to animals, which are also important for their metabolism.
Use of Thickeners in Pet Foods
Guar gum is the most commonly used thickener in the pet food industry. Apart from the thickening properties, Guar gum powder has great nutritional qualities such as having water-soluble fibers, which assist in the digestion process of the animals. It also serves to prolong the shelf life of products.
Regulations Governing Production and Distribution of Animal Feed
Specific nations and countries regulate the production of animal feeds to ensure quality and effective products reach the market. Internationally, the food and agriculture organization lays down the critical requirements and recommended additives in feed production. Global Good agriculture practices (Global GAP) is also an acceptable standard in the manufacture and sale of animal feed.
Conclusion
Commercial animal and pet food is very important to animal health. Animals also have certain dietary requirements, which are supplied by the concentrates. Additives such as the guar gum are important in animal feed due their nutritional content as well as thickening abilities.
This article has been posted by Biren Patel working at Agro Gums. Agro Gums is a guar and cassia gum manufacturing company offering high quality guar gum powder, fast hydration guar gum powder, cassia powder, guar splits and guar meal to satisfy the production requirements of various industries across the world.
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