title: The intake and digestion of a range of temperate forages by sheep and fibre-producing goats.
abstract: The voluntary intake, digestibility and mean retention time of six temperate forages differing in their chemical composition by 12 adult castrated male Scottish blackface sheep, aged 15 months, and fibre-producing castrated male goats, aged 27 months, and of similar live weight, 40kg, were described. The creation of a range of chemical compositions was effected through the use of barley straw, and a low- and high-digestibility hay, and the use of ammonia treatment of these forages. A wide range of voluntary intakes (42-78gDM/kgW(0.75)/day), digestibility of dry matter (0.46-0.60) and mean retention times of undigested residues (36-72h) was achieved through feeding the six forages. Across all the forages fibre-producing goats had higher voluntary intakes, expressed on a metabolic live weight basis, and lower digestibility values than sheep, whereas the mean retention time of the undigested residues was similar for the two species. Within forages goats selected a diet of potentially higher nutritive value, as predicted from chemical composition, with a smaller particle size than sheep. It was concluded that the differences in intake and digestion of temperate forages between sheep and fibre-producing goats are broadly similar to those observed in other experiments between sheep and goats ingesting tropical forages.
authors.affiliation: Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, AB15 8QH, Aberdeen, UK
authors.forename: I E.
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Hadjigeorgiou
authors.forename: I J.
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: J A.
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Milne