Effects of grazing sequence and condensed tannins on ingestive behaviour, herbage intake, and performance of lambs grazing Yorkshire fog pasture

摘要

Abstract A grazing experiment was conducted using Yorkshire fog (Holcus lanatus cv. Massey Basyn)/white clover (Trifolium repens cv. Grasslands Tahora) pasture to assess the grazing behaviour, diet selection, herbage intake, and performance of lambs as affected by low concentrations of condensed tannin (CT) in the grass, and grazing sequence, under rotational stocking management in summer 1994/1995, in New Zealand. Sixty spring‐born castrated male lambs were used in the experiment. Twelve lambs were slaughtered at the start of the experiment to measure carcass weight. Another 48 lambs were allocated to two groups in sets of twenty‐four to graze eight paddocks rotationally in a Leader/Follower sequence. Half of the lambs within each group were drenched with 10 g polyethylene glycol (PEG: mol. weight 3350) twice daily at 0830 and 1630 hours and the remaining lambs were drenched with water as a control. There were higher proportions of grass leaf and white clover and lower proportions of grass stem and dead ...