Editing Fodder (section)

{{hatnote|For the former unit of weight, see [[load (unit)|load]].}}
{{redirect|Provender|the house in England|Provender House}}
{{short description|Agricultural foodstuff used to feed domesticated animals}}
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[[File:Fodder factory02.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|right|A fodder factory set up by an individual farmer to produce customised cattle feed]]

'''Fodder''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|ɒ|d|ər}}), also called '''provender''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|r|ɒ|v|ən|d|ər}}), is any [[agriculture|agricultural]] [[food]]stuff used specifically to feed [[domesticated]] [[livestock]], such as [[cattle]], [[domestic rabbit|rabbit]]s, [[sheep]], [[horse]]s, [[chicken]]s and [[pig]]s. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (including plants cut and carried to them), rather than that which they forage for themselves (called [[forage]]). Fodder includes [[hay]], [[straw]], [[silage]], compressed and [[Compound feed|pelleted feeds]], oils and mixed rations, and [[sprouting|sprouted]] grains and [[legume]]s (such as [[bean sprout]]s, fresh [[malt]], or [[brewing#Brewer's spent grain|spent malt]]). Most animal feed is from plants, but some manufacturers add ingredients to processed feeds that are of animal origin.

The worldwide [[animal feed]] trade produced 1.245 billion tons of [[compound feed]] in 2022 according to an estimate by the International Feed Industry Federation,<ref name=IFIF>{{cite web| title=Global Feed Statistics| url=https://ifif.org/global-feed/statistics/|publisher=International Feed Industry Federation|access-date=18 March 2024}}</ref> with an annual growth rate of about 2%. The use of agricultural land to grow feed rather than human food can be controversial (see [[food vs. feed]]); some types of feed, such as corn ([[maize]]), can also serve as human food; those that cannot, such as [[grassland]] grass, may be grown on land that can be used for crops consumed by humans.

[[File:Manual cutting of green fodder in Punjab.jpg|thumb|Manual cutting of green fodder, Punjab]]