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M Freer H Dove Sheep Nutrition

Herbage, the primary food for sheep, belongs to the group of feeds described as roughages. Roughages, in contrast to concentrates, are derived from the leaves and stems of pasture and crop plants and their dry matter (DM) contains a significant amount of cellulose (> 180 g kg−1). As herbage is grazed or cut from maturing and regrowing plants, the composition of the feed and, with it, the ability of the feed to supply nutrients to the animal are in a continual state of change. For example, a young growing pasture may support weight gains in excess of 300 g day−1 in young lambs, whereas a mature pasture may fail to maintain the weight of an adult sheep. This highlights the importance of establishing a robust system for defining the value of herbage for animal production, understanding how this value changes with the growth of the herbage and the needs of the animal and developing rapid methods for predicting changes that are occurring in the field. What is Nutritive Value? Nutritive value (NV) is a term used to quantify the presence and availability in a feed of nutrients that are required by the animal and to predict the productive output from the animal to which it is fed. It de

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