Influence of time of concentrate feeding to sheep on diurnal pattern of intake and digestion of hay

Abstract

The rôle of supplementary feeding of sheep in most hill and upland sheep systems is well recognized in supplying extra nutrients and in influencing resource management (Milne and Mayes, 1986). Mechanisms regulating grazing behaviour are modified during supplementary feeding and the time of supplementary feeding may affect the diurnal pattern of herbage intake. In supplement feeding studies grazing complicates interpretation because forage quality continually changes; therefore, most of these studies have been conducted with harvested rather than grazed forage. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate if the time of supplementary feeding has any influence on the voluntary intake of a basal grass hay diet and on its diurnal pattern of intake.