A study of factors affecting feed intake and the eating behaviour of cattle.

Abstract Two experiments have been reported in which the physical nature of the diet of four Ayrshire heifers was altered by: 1. (a) Chopping silage. 2. (b) Partially drying fresh grass. The effects of the treatments on both feed intake and jaw movements have been fully discussed. It was concluded that, on a herbage diet, maximum dry matter intake could only be obtained, when the dry matter percentage was above a critical figure, and that this figure lay within the range of 24–28 per cent. On diets below 24 per cent, dry matter, the weight of wet matter consumed controlled appetite. It was found that the wetter diets were more bulky and required more bites of eating per pound of dry matter consumed.