Why is fiber important in animal feed?

Question

Im mainly looking into organic sheep feed....i know what fiber is and all, but i have no idea what it is good for, i mean it all come back out!...help please...

Answer 1

I live on a farm, and raise meat goats, and meat rabbits.  I also own horses.  I've owned sheep in the past.

The guts of herbivores act as giant fermenting vats, as the gut bacteria works on breaking down all the feed the animal takes in.  Of course for herbivores, most of what they take in is fiberous.

That "fermenting vat" action of the animals gut is vital to keeping the animal warm.  

Also of course the animals are designed to have all that fiber in their gut.  It makes them feel full and happy.  If your animal recieved all of it's food via a small portion of concintrates (usually from grains) the animal is going to be bored, and looking for things to chew on.  In the case of sheep, they will beging to eat dirt, bedding, wool off other sheep and themselves, and any bit of wood they can find.

It's true the fiber comes back out, but the sheep have stripped what neutriants they need from it.  Now the fiber that comes out the other end is natures way of making a wonderful fertilizer for the plants.

Another thing with sheep, they are cud chewers, or ruminants.  They are built to take in MASSES of fiberous feed, like grass, or hay, and lay down someplace safe, and chew their cud.  

If you raise a sheep on concentrated feeds, you raise a "welfare sheep."  A sheep (or any other ruminant) needs to go out as a youngster, and stuff their rumen full of fiber, so they develop a nice big rumen.  If they live off concentrates, they never develop a big rumen.  When they become adults, they would actually starve if you put them out in a lush pasture....they will need those concentrates for the rest of their lives.

Also concentrates mess with the delicate Ph balance of their guts.  The concentrates make them highly acidic, which is the perfect breeding ground for the Ecoli bacteria.  

Healthy, happy sheep need high fiber diets.  My goats have high quality alfalfa hay in front of their noses all winter long.  I've found I do not actually end up feeding any more alfalfa to them, with free choice, than I would with twice daily feedings.  But they are extremely healthy, and not stressed at all, since they can follow whatever natural feeding pattern they choose too.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

My information is NOT incomplete.  The fermentation, and heat process goes on through the rumen, and the animals entire gut system (intestines).  People always talk about the four stomachs, like they are four seperate organs.  It is one organ, with four chambers.  Your heart is one organ, with multiple chambers...same sort of idea for the rumen.  I see several goats butchered on my farm each and every week.  I'm EXTREMELY familure with each and every organ in a goat (or sheeps) body.  My ethnic customers eat all of the internal organs, except the bladder, and bile duct on the liver.  I've seen so many rumens cleaned out of grass and hay I couldn't even begin to count.  Including the intestines (they eat them too).

Answer 2

fibre is imp

Answer 3

fiber is important in animal feed just as you need fiber in your diet

Answer 4

Bohemian gave you a very good answer, everything she said is right, but it is incomplete. Sheep like cattle are rumens . they have four stomachs, not one like us and other simple stomach animals. The first stomach is the rumen, which is a big fermentation vat that she referred to. The main purpose of the rumen is to enable the bacteria present to digest fiber. That is why a sheep can live and do well on nothing but grass and/or hay. Where a hog, a simple stomach animal, would starve on the same ration. Fiber is important for the bulk in any animals feed to make them feel full. In a simple stomach animal most fiber does pass right through undigested, but for your sheep a large portion of this fiber is digested to provide the main portion of their nutrition. The quality of the fiber is also very important. For example sheep will do well on good alfalfa hay because the quality of the fiber is more digestible than if they had a diet of all straw, still mostly fiber, but of poor quality and less digestible. So in your sheep feed fiber is a lot more important than just for bulk, and it all does not "come back out". Good luck.

Answer 5

it aides in digeston, adds carbs, and helps produce regular stools.  it usually comes in the form of wheat germ for most livestock or domesticated animals.

Answer 6

Sheep need lots of fibre to keep the rumen healthy.

This has been established empirically long before it was demonstrated by any reasons that it is so.

What we can observe is that feeding sheep on a lot of barley, which provides a lot more energy per cu. metre does not keep a sheep's rumen healthy. But adding  some barley to good legume hay works well.