Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
1. Samples of faeces obtained from eleven continuous digestibility trials in which sheep, steers or cows were given fresh herbages grown in different seasons in 2 years were analysed for the ‘dissolved faeces fraction’ (D.I-.F.).
2. Dry-matter intake by sheep was linearly related to the weight of D.F.F. excreted and the equation predicted intakes that were 20 %higher at the mean intake than those estimated from a similar type of relationship obtained by Owen (1961). A logarithmic relationship was derived when the observations for all species were combined.