Hi Oogie,
We've kept sheep for 15 years and beef cattle for 10 and I consider them
pretty much the same in terms of diet and digestion except that sheep have
smaller mouths and are more selective about eating just the good stuff and
avoiding the stems. Since cows and sheep have the same types of bacteria
etc. in their rumens and competitive exclusion between the fiber digesters
and the starch digesters lies at the heart of the interaction of grain and
pasture intake, I believe feeding grain on grass does behave the same for
sheep as for dairy cattle.
Just how this interaction behaves seems to be quite variable, judging by the
very different results obtained by different researchers. Components of the
variation include the type of grain fed, processing of grain fed, timing of
grain feeding, conditioning of rumen to grain, prior experience of animal
with grain/pasture, use of buffers with grain, quality and quantity of
pasture available, genetic capacity of the animal, standard of animal
performance, bias of the researcher, and bias of the reader.
One personal reason I prefer to keep sheep on a 100% forage diet is that
they are quieter. I used to hate feeding time when we supplemented with
beet pulp, with all the ewes screaming and shoving. They are much quieter
about hay.
Sumner Roberts
Meadowsweet Farm
Swanville, Maine
> From: Oogie McGuire <oogiem@desertweyr.com>
> Reply-To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
> Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 08:22:21 -0600
> To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
> Subject: Re: [Graze-l] Feeding grain on grass
>
>> even though they are ruminants, they are NOT just small cows.
>
> True but they are still 4 compartment ruminants.
>
> Sheep are also not little cows.
>
> Which is the while crux of my question whether feeding grain on grass
> behaves the same for sheep as it does for dairy cattle.
> --
> Oogie McGuire - oogiem@desertweyr.com
> Weyr Associates - Multimedia and Web Authoring Services & Consulting
> Desert Weyr - CMK Arabian horses and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep
> http://www.desertweyr.com/
> Paonia, CO USA
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