Abstract

The aim of the present experiment was to compare eating and ruminating activity in lamb fed either whole wheat (W) or whole oat grain (O) ad libitum. Nineteen Shropshire lamb were splitted up into two equal groups from weaning at 20 kg to slaughter at 45 kg and fed whole grains ad libitum plus 100 g protein concentrates per lamb twice daily. Jaw movements (JM) oscillations values were recorded at 30 Hz continuously during 96 hours two week before slaughter. Daily time spent eating and rumination, number of ruminating periods (RP) and ruminating cycles (RC) were identified from the JM pattern characteristics and from observation of the lamb. Data were statistically analysed by Proc Mixed in SAS 8.2. Daily time spent eating and ruminating, mean ruminating time per kg grain, daily number of JM during ruminating (JM_R) and number of JM_R per kg grain were affected by grain type (P<0.05). Feeding W caused an irregular JM_R pattern, whereas JM_R pattern appears to be normal in lamb feed O. Daily time spent ruminating, mean ruminating time per kg grain, number of RC per RP and number of JM_R per RC were highest in lamb feed O (P<0.05). In conclusion, the content of physical effective fibre in O appears to be sufficient to stimulate regular ruminating in lamb

Published in

Conference

59th Conference of the European Association for Animal Production (EAAP)

SLU Authors

• Bostad, Elise

  • Department of Rural Buildings and Animal Husbandry [LBT], Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/22028