Parameters from in vitro gas production and in situ degradability are often used to predict digestibility and intake in vivo. However, these methods use dried ground feed samples and cannot be expected to estimate the effect of changes in physical form or particle size. Previous work (Romney and Gill 1998) has indicated that short term intake rate (STIR) values showed potential to rank a variety of feeds in terms of their ad libitum dry matter intake, rate of passage and digestibility. Since STIR values are determined on feeds “as offered” it is likely they will reflect the effects of physical structure on in vivo parameters. The present work examines whether measurement of STIR values can be used to predict in vivo responses to changes in particle size distribution in chopped forages.