Week 9
Goats |
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Feeding Behavior
Text
Transcript
Time: 4.35
Follow along with the audio...
- Insistent that diet is fresh, clean, and previously untouched
- Discriminate between plant fractions that appear similar
- Mobile lips allow sorting
- Versatile diet selection
- Two important effects
- Diet consumed differs from that offered
- Goats eat more if they have more from which to select
Feeding Value of Alfalfa Hay
|
Offered |
Refused |
Ingested |
Leaves, % |
46.2 |
23.9 |
59.9 |
Stems, % |
53.8 |
76.1 |
41.4 |
Nutrient
Value |
|
|
|
NE, Mcal/kg DM |
0.88 |
0.70 |
0.99 |
CP, % |
12.1 |
8.5 |
14.1 |
Adapted from Morand-Fehr and Sauvant (1985)
Diet Selection
- Goats will graze (browse) from all available plant types
- Browse line (4-6 ft)
- Particularly attracted to trees and shrubs
- Used to control undesirable species
- Meat goats more effective browser than the Angora
- Nutritional value of a goat’s selected diet is generally higher than the average value of available vegetation
- The more complex available vegetation, the more complex the diet
- On pasture or range with no plant diversity, diets selected by goats, sheep, and cattle are similar
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