Effect of dry or hydrated bentonite on the wool growth and liveweight gain of sheep fed wheat chaff

Many reports on the use of bentonite to increase wool growth indicate variable responses and it is often claimed that this variability is related to the chemical characteristics or the form in which the bentonite is fed. This paper describes 3 experiments in which there was consistency in the type and form of the clay. There was also comparison of the effects of dry and hydrated bentonite. In the first experiment, 64 sheep were individually penned and fed wheat chaff ad libitum. Thirty sheep were fed chaff only, 17 sheep received dry bentonite added to their chaff (20 g/kg chaff) and another 17 sheep had 23.7 g/day of bentonite added to their drinking water. Inclusion of bentonite in the drinking water significantly increased wool growth (P0.05) but liveweight gain was significantly increased (P