[Consumption and ruminating behavior of sheep. 4. Experiments on young female sheep in different rearing intensities]

In the framework of two rearing experiments with female merino meat sheep, measurings of the consumption and ruminating behaviour were carried out. Animals raised with a lot of roughage ruminated longer both in their lamb and young sheep periods. An increased quota of roughage in the ration increased both the ruminating time and the number of chewing moves and cycles significantly for young sheep. The dry matter intake capacity of animals raised with high quotas of roughage was by 14 and 8% resp. higher in the lamb period and by 26 and 18% resp. higher in the young sheep period. Rations with 24% chopped and dried green fodder and 11 ... 14% resp. crude fibre brought about a period of more than 6 hours ruminating and a minimum of 22,000 ruminating movements per day for lambs. Young sheep raised with high quotas of roughage showed an increased ruminating activity in subsequent periods of sole feeding with roughage.