Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T15:02:27.325Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The use of sheep as a model to predict the relative intakes of silages by dairy cattle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

A. Cushnahan ,
F. J. Gordon ,
C. P. W. Ferris ,
D. M. B. Chestnutt  and
C. S. Mayne
A. Cushnahan
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR
F. J. Gordon
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR Queen's University of Belfast
C. P. W. Ferris
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR
D. M. B. Chestnutt
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR Queen's University of Belfast
C. S. Mayne
Affiliation:
Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Hillsborough, Co. Down BT26 6DR Queen's University of Belfast
Get access

Abstract

A study was carried out to determine if sheep could be used as a model for predicting the intakes of silages by cattle. Fifty ewes and 45 cows were offered five grass silages unsupplemented in two parallel randomized-block experiments over a 4-week period. Each silage had been made using the same equipment over a range of cutting dates (May, July, August 1991). The silages differed in fermentation characteristics, with lactic acid concentrations varying from 15·3 to 90·7 g/kg dry matter, and ammonia-nitrogen concentrations from 77 to 198 g/kg nitrogen. When expressed on a metabolic live-weight basis, the mean intakes of silages by cows were 2·25 times those of the sheep, with the mean intakes being 35·1 and 79·1 g/kg M0·75 for the sheep and cows respectively. However, there was no significant correlation between recorded intakes during the 4th week of the study by the two species (y (cows) = 0·62× (sheep) + 58·40; r2 = 0·03). It was concluded that sheep were not a useful model system to predict the intakes of a range of grass silages of similar chop length by dairy cows.

Keywords

cowsfood intakesheepsilage
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 59 , Issue 3 , December 1994 , pp. 415 - 420
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1991. AFRC Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients. Report no. 8. Voluntary intake of silage. Nutritional Abstracts and Reviews 61: 815–822.Google Scholar
Apolant, S. M. and Chestnutt, D. M. B. 1985. The effect of mechanical treatment of silage on intake and production of sheep. Animal Production 40: 287–296.Google Scholar
Buchman, D. J. and Hemken, R. W. 1964. Ad libitum intake and digestibility of several alfalfa hays by cattle and sheep. Journal of Dairy Science 47: 861–864.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cushnahan, A. and Gordon, F. J. 1994. The effects of grass preservation on intake, digestibility and rumen degradation characteristics. Animal Production. In press.Google Scholar
Demarquilly, C. and Dulphy, J. P. 1977. Effect of ensiling on feed intake and animal performance. Proceedings of the international meeting on animal production from temperate grassland, Dublin, pp. 53–61.Google Scholar
Demarquilly, C. and Weiss, Ph. 1971. Laisons entre les quantités de matière sèche de fourrages vert ingérées par les moutons et celles ingérées par les bovins. Annales de Zootechnie 20: 119–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewhurst, R. J., Mitton, A. M., Offer, N. W. and Thomas, C. 1993. Comparison of the voluntary intake of grass silage by lactating dairy cows and growing lambs. Proceedings of the tenth international conference on silage research, Dublin, pp. 155–156.Google Scholar
Dulphy, J. P. 1980. The intake of conserved forages. In Forage conservation in the 80's (ed. Thomas, C.), occasional symposium of the British Grassland Society no. 11, pp. 107–121.Google Scholar
Dulphy, J. P., Michalet-Doreau, B. and Demarquilly, C. 1984. Etude comparee des quantites ingerees et du comportment alimentaire et merycique d'ovins et de bovins recevant des ensilages d'herbe réalisés selon différentes techniques. Annales de Zootechnie 33: 291–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dulphy, J. P. and Rouel, J. 1988. [Effect of wilting on changes in the voluntary food intake in cattle as compared to sheep.] Annales de Zootechnie 37: 31–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forbes, J. M. 1977a. Interrelationships between physical and metabolic control of voluntary food intake in fattening, pregnant and lactating mature sheep. Animal Production 24: 91–101.Google Scholar
Forbes, J. M. 1977b. Development of a model of voluntary food intake and energy balance in lactating cows. Animal Production 24: 203–214.Google Scholar
Gordon, F. J. 1982. The effects of degree of chopping grass for silage and method of concentrate allocation on the performance of dairy cows. Gross and Forage Science 37: 59–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, C. E., Raymond, W. J. and Wilson, R. J. 1966. The voluntary intake of silage. Proceedings of the tenth international grassland congress, Helsinki, pp. 564–568.Google Scholar
Ingalls, J. R., Thomas, J. W. and Tesar, M. B. 1965. Comparison of responses to various forages by sheep, rabbits and heifers. journal of Animal Science 24: 1165–1168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarrige, R., Demarquilly, C., Dulphy, J. P., Hoden, A. D., Robelin, J., Beranger, C., Geay, Y., Journet, M., Malterre, C., Micol, D. and Petit, M. 1986. The INRA ‘fill unit’ system for predicing the voluntary intake of forage-based diets in ruminants: a review. journal of Animal Science 63: 1737–1758.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G. M., Larsen, R. E., Javed, A. H., Donefer, E. and Gaudreau, J. M. 1972. Voluntary intake and nutrient digestibility of forages by goats and sheep. Journal of Animal Science 34: 830–838.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ketelaars, J. J. M. H. and Tolkamp, B. J. 1992. Toward a new theory of feed intake regulation in ruminants. 1. Causes of differences in voluntary feed intake: critique of current views. Livestock Production Science 30: 269–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Playne, M. J. and McDonald, P. 1966. The buffering constituents of herbage and of silage. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 17: 264–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rook, A. J., Dhanoa, M. S. and Gill, M. 1990. Prediction of the voluntary intake of grass silages by beef cattle. 2. Principal component and ridge regression analyses. Animal Production 50: 439–454.Google Scholar
Rook, A. J. and Gill, M. 1990. Prediction of the voluntary intake of grass silages by beef cattle. 1. Linear regression analyses. Animal Production 50: 425–438.Google Scholar