Vitamins

[Kvet Forum]

Vitamins in ruminant feeding​

While all the different vitamins are essential for all livestock, under most conditions only vitamin A needs to be given attention in ruminant feeding. ss-carotene and/or Vit A can be stored in the liver and body tissues during periods of high intake and used during periods of low intake. Vitamin A is found in green plants, carrots and other feed stuff.

Vitamin B is usually synthesized in the rumen of ruminants.For other animals it is beneficial to include small amounts of feed from animal origin to supply vitamin B12, as this vitamin is only found in animal products. Vitamin C will most of the time be enough in the green roughages eaten by ruminants , but non-ruminants will need access to green vegetation or vegetables to cover their vitamin C needs. Vitamin D gets produced when animals are exposed to direct sunlight, for which reason it is always advisable to give livestock a chance to spend time in the sun.

Vitamin A deficiencies in ruminants may include:

• Reduced feed intake
• Slow weight gains
• Night blindness
• Swollen hocks, knees, and brisket
• Total blindness
• Diarrhoea
• Muscular incoordination
• Staggering gait
• Reduced sexual activity
• Low fertility in bulls
• Poor conception rates
• Abortion in cows

For this reason it is advisable to supplement ruminant feed with Vitamin A (or carrots if available) during periods where little green fodder is available.

Vitamins in pig nutrition​

Pigs need a lot more vitamin supplements than ruminants. As for ruminants Vitamin D can be produced by the pigs themselves if they are given a chance to spend time in direct sunlight. This does not always happen in today's pig production. So recommendations for vitamins to pigs look as follows:

• Vitamin A: Add 2-3 % good quality Lucerne meal or similar (such as dried crushed comfrey or amaranth leaves) to the normal pig rations. Another alternative can again be carrots if cheap enough and available.
• Vitamin D: Try to expose the pigs to sunlight. If this is not possible addition of Vitamin D supplementation is needed.
• Riboflavin: This is found in Lucerne meal, green plants, fish meal or milk products. If none of these are used in the pig feed, supplementation with riboflavin is recommended.
• Niacin: As most feeds are short of this vitamin, supplementation is recommended. Some good sources of Niacin include: rice and wheat bran, sunflower meal, brewer's yeast and fish meal.
• Pantothenic Acid: Supplementation recommended with for example rice or wheat bran, rice polishing, sunflower meal, Lucerne meal, fish- or peanut meal, brewer's yeast.
• Vitamin B12: This vitamin is only found in animal products such as fish meal, blood meal, or for open range pigs and poultry: insects, grubs, etc. If your pigs are mostly fed on soya meal for their protein, a small addition of fishmeal will be beneficial.
• Choline: Is usually sufficient in pig rations.
• Vitamin E: Effective vitamin E utilization is dependent on adequate selenium, and selenium is sometimes deficient in feed from some areas. If selenium content of feed is a problem also the production of vitamin E will be a problem. Ask advice on Vitamin E from your livestock nutritionist.