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This paper reports results from a study of ewes in pregnancy and lactation, during which times they grazed at a high versus medium stocking rate and either received or did not receive a pelleted supplement. We measured ewe liveweight, condition score and body composition; intakes by ewes of pasture and supplementary feed; milk production by ewes, and; birthweight, milk intake, liveweight gain and body composition of single and twin lambs. Ewes grazing at the medium stocking rate consumed more pasture in late pregnancy and the intake of supplement significantly reduced pasture intake. Nevertheless, total intakes of organic matter or digestible organic matter were unaffected by supplementation and were significantly higher at the medium stocking rate. Effects of stocking rate on intake persisted into early and mid-lactation, but supplement intake did not affect pasture intake in lactation. Pasture intakes in pregnancy were not markedly different between twin-bearing and single-bearing ewes, nor were pasture intakes in lactation affected by the number of lambs suckled. Ewes suckling twins produced much more milk. There were significant effects of birth type, ewe stocking rate and supplementation on lamb milk intake and liveweight gain. The data were reanalysed by regression, to explore the effects of actual herbage masses and ewe intakes, and the possible effects of non-treatment terms such as ewe age, condition score and dentition score at allocation. These analyses confirmed the above effects of treatment, but also demonstrated that ewes in better condition at the start of the experiment ate less pasture in both pregnancy and lactation, and produced significantly less milk. Ewe organic matter intakes in pregnancy were not related to dentition score at allocation, but in early and mid-lactation were reduced by ~170 g organic matter/day and 280–380 g organic matter/day, respectively, per unit increase in dentition score. There was no significant effect of ewe dentition score on lamb milk intake, but there was a significant penalty of ~19 g lamb liveweight gain/unit increase in ewe dentition score at allocation. Future studies of this kind thus need to include estimates of the condition score and dentition score of ewes when they commence the experiment.

There have been few successful programmes to select forage plants with improved nutritive value for dairy cattle, despite the implications of improved forage quality for dairy production. Part of this lack of progress has been attributed to differences in opinion on the relative importance of improving individual traits relating to nutritive value. This paper reports the use of the Delphi survey technique to obtain an estimate of the priority for improvement of individual nutritive value traits among a large group of respondents. The Delphi technique has been used previously to rank nutritive value traits in forages for liveweight gain and wool production (Wheeler and Corbett, 1989, Grass and Forage Science, 44, 77–83). Increasing dry-matter digestibility (DMD) was ranked as the most important goal for grasses; increased non-structural carbohydrate (WSC) and improved rate of digestion were ranked second and third in importance. The absence of anti-quality factors, and an ‘optimal ratio’ of rumen degradable protein to undegradable protein (RDP/UDP) were ranked most highly for legumes, with increased DMD and WSC following closely behind. Increased magnesium and increased lipid content were ranked lowest for both grasses and legumes. Similar rankings were achieved when mean rankings from Australian and New Zealand scientists were compared with those from US and European scientists. Rankings were also similar when results from nutrition scientists were compared with those from plant breeders/agronomists.

The n-alkane and chromium/in vitro procedures for estimating herbage intake were compared in grazing ewes during late pregnancy, early lactation, and mid-lactation. To ensure differences in herbage intake, the ewes were grazed in 4 plots of phalaris-dominant pasture at 2 levels of stocking: 17.1 ewes/ha and 30.8 ewes/ha. To investigate whether either procedure for estimating herbage intake was influenced by supplement consumption, half of the ewes at each stocking level received 500 g/day air-dry of a pelletted supplement (1 : 1 milled oat grain : sunflower meal). Supplement intakes were estimated using tritiated gypsum as a marker. During intake measurement periods, ewes were dosed twice daily with both alkane capsules and capsules containing chromium sesquioxide. For the last 6 days of the 12-day dosing period, rectal faecal samples were taken twice daily, immediately before the dosing. Over these same periods, wether sheep fitted with faecal collection harnesses were similarly dosed and sampled, and their total faecal output collected to establish the faecal recovery of chromium and the alkanes. Herbage intakes were estimated using the C27/C28, C29/C28, C31/C32, and C33/C32 alkane pairs. Estimates of intake based on the shorter alkane pairs were lower than those estimated with the C33/C32 alkane pair, by amounts which differed between the periods. Evidence is presented that estimates based on the last pair of alkanes (C33/C32) are the most accurate and are also more accurate than those based on the chromium/in vitro procedure. The relationship between these 2 methods for estimating intake was different in mid-pregnancy compared with either stage of lactation. The consumption of supplement did not interfere with any of the methods for estimating herbage intake. Estimates of faecal output based on the use of chromium, C28 alkane, or C32 as an external marker were statistically identical, indicating that the difference between the 2 methods for estimating herbage intake was not related to a failure to accommodate the incomplete recovery of any of the markers used or to the failure of rectal grab samples to be representative of total faeces. Our results indicate that herbage collected by oesophageally fistulated (OF) sheep was representative of that grazed by the ewes and could thus be used to provide the herbage alkane data needed to estimate herbage intake by the alkane method. However, the in vitro digestibility values obtained from the OF samples did not represent the digestibilities actually occurring in vivo. This was the main cause of the observed difference between the 2 methods for estimating intake. Possible reasons for the differences between the in vitro and in vivo estimates of digestibility are discussed.

SummaryIn two experiments with female Scottish Blackface or Border Leicester x Scottish Blackface sheep nine or ten animals were slaughtered in mid lactation and the remainder either in November at the time of the subsequent mating (Expt 1) or at weaning (Expt 2).The sheep were infused periodically, including just before slaughter, with 100 μCi tritiated water (TOH) in order to measure total body water by dilution and to estimate body fat using the inverse relationship between the proportions of fat and water in the body. The accuracy of the methods was assessed when the sheep were slaughtered. In the ton lactating Scottish Blackface sheep of Expt 1 fat made up 11.5% of the total body weight with an S.D. of 8·38% whereas the 11 sheep slaughtered at mating were twice as fat (23·2, S.D. 4·01 %). The 25 Border Leicester × Blackface sheep were all thin, whether they were slaughtered in mid lactation (4·4, S.D. 2·56%) or at weaning (3·4, S.D. 2·81%).The standard error of estimate of body water from TOH space in Expt 2 was 1·2 kg c.v. 2·8%) and lower in Expt 1.The precision with which an animal could be weighed was very important in determining the accuracy with which body fat could be predicted from live weight and TOH space. In both experiments the standard error of estimate for body fat in lactating sheep was between 600 and 700 g, compared with 1·3–2·7 kg when body fat was predicted from live weight alone. These estimates were sufficiently accurate to be of value in following changes in body composition in live animals as their nutritional and physiological state alters and for comparing animals in groups where the average fatness is greater and the range wider than in the sheep used in Expt 2.