Comparative preference by sheep and goats for Graminaeae forages varying in chemical composition

The preferences for six Graminaeae forages, differing in chemical composition, by adult castrated male Scottish Blackface sheep and fibre-producing castrated male goats were assessed in paired choice trials. Using barley straw, low and high digestibility grass hay (Lolium perenne) and the use of ammonia treatment of the low quality forages, created the range in chemical composition of the forages. A wide range of voluntary intakes (33.7–82.3 g DM/kg W0.75/day) was achieved through feeding the paired forages. Sheep and goats had similar preference rankings for the forages with both preferring the high digestibility hay to other forages. Ammonia treatment of the forages had little effect on their preference. For both species the forages’ preference rankings were positively correlated with the voluntary intake (P<0.01) and the in vitro OM digestibility (P<0.05) of the individual forages, whereas they were negatively related (P<0.01) to the fibre characteristics (NDF, ADF, AIL) of the feeds. It was concluded that goats and sheep used in this study had similar preferences, for the forages tested, despite differences between species in their intake and digestion of the individual forages.