Straw and grain feeding of sheep

Abstract

Eight groups of nine 18-month-old wethers were fed one of the following rations over a 56-day period after undergoing a preliminary 42-day hay-feeding period:Barley grain; barley straw; barley straw + urea; barley straw + barley grain; barley straw + barley grain + urea; barley straw + maize grain; barley straw + maize grain + urea; maize grain. No significant differences were found between barley and maize grains in feeding value and all animals gained weight slightly when fed at rates of 31 and 35 g dry matter/kg LWO. 7 i). All animals fed a barley straw diet ad lib. lost live weight but this loss was considerably reduced when similarly fed animals were supplemented with 200 g of barley or maize grain. The addition of urea had no significant effect on animal performance.The regression equations relating water intake to dry matter intake were: Hay trial Y = 1.52 (± 0.39) X + 368 Straw trial Y = 1.48 (± 0.29) X + 566 where Y = water intake (ml/day) and X = dry matter intake (gjday).