Effects of Grass Silage Quality and three Levels of Flat Rate Concentrate Feeding to upland Ewes in the Last Trimester of Pregnancy upon Voluntary Food Intake

Extract

With increasing flock sizes and the uncertainty of the hay-making process, silage has a part to play as the basal diet of Greyface type ewes during the latter half of pregnancy. Silage also varies considerably in feeding value and there is a demand for advice upon the contribution which grass silage can make to the diet, and also what level of concentrate feeding should be associated with any given silage. Silage is commonly subjected to a number of laboratory analytical procedures to provide estimates of:

ME, D value, amonia nitrogen, dry matter, crude protein, pH and MAD fibre

The present series of feeding experiments sets out to provide evidence about the voluntary intake of a range of silages by ewes in late pregnancy and to examine any relationships which would help in predicting intake from laboratory analysis.