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The Effect of Amount Offered on Selection and Intake of Barley Straw by Goats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2017

R.A. Waned  and
E. Owen
R.A. Waned
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 2AT
E. Owen
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Reading RG6 2AT
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Extract

The conventional method of measuring ad libitum intake of roughages involves offering sufficient (usually in chopped form) to ensure that 15 to 20% is left at the end of the feeding period (Blaxter et al 1961). Earlier experiments (Waned and Owen, 1986) with goats and sheep fed long roughages ad libitum (allowing 20% of feed offered to be refused) showed both species to be capable of selective feeding, in that refusals had a lower nutritive value than feed offered. The latter study and that of Glbb and Treacher (1976) with grazing sheep, suggested that selection and hence intake of roughage would increase if the amount offered (and hence refusal rate) was increased.

To test this hypothesis two experiments were conducted with housed (16 hours light, 8 hours dark), individually penned Saanen castrate goats ranging in weight (15 to 65 kg) and age (6 to 30 months). Animals were fed restricted amounts of concentrates (15 g dry matter (DM) per kg M0.7S daily) and long barley straw ad libitum.

Type
Ruminant Nutrition
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1986 , March 1986 , pp. 137
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1986

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References

Blaxter, K.L., Wainman, F.W. and Wilson, R.S. 1961. The regulation of food intake by sheep. Animal Production 3 : 51–61.Google Scholar
Gibb, M.J. and Treacher, T.T. 1976. The effect of herbage allowance on herbage intake and performance of lambs grazing perennial ryegrass and red clover swards. J. Agricultural Science Cambridge 86 : 355–365.Google Scholar
Tilley, J.M.A. and Terry, R.A. 1963. A two-stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of British Grassland Society 18 : 104–111.Google Scholar
Wahed, R.A. and Owen, E. 1986. Comparison of sheep and goats under stall-feeding conditions : roughage intake and selection. Animal Production 42(1) (in press).Google Scholar