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The comparative digestibility of feed ingredients by cattle and sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

John Coyle
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
F. P. O'Mara
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
M. J. Drennan
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Grange Research Centre, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland
M. Rath
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
P. J. Caffrey
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
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Extract

Most measurements of digestibility are earned out with sheep rather than cattle because of the smaller amounts of feed and faeces involved. Yet the results are most often used with cattle. It is widely believed that digestibility in sheep is poorer than cattle with low digestibility feedstuffs and better with high digestibility feedstuffs, but that the magnitude of the differences is small. However, this belief is largely based on work with forages and there have been few direct comparisons between cattle and sheep fed concentrate ingredients. The objective of this experiment was to compare the digestibility by cattle and sheep of five samples of concentrate ingredients: citrus pulp, molassed beet pulp, corn gluten feed, barley and grain screenings.

Type
Techniques
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1996

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References

MAFF. 1992. Feed Composition. UK tables of feed composition and nutritive value for ruminants. Second Edition. Chalcombe Publications.Google Scholar