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Digestibility Comparisons between Steers and Lambs Fed Prairie Hays of Different Quality^{1, 3,}

South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station

Abstract

Two series of trials were conducted comparing the relative digestive capacities of steers and lambs fed different qualities of prairie hay.These trials involved fifty-one separate trials with each species.

The only statistically significant difference encountered between species throughout these trials was in the case of the digestibility of dry matter in the second series of trials. Other differences and tendencies that were encountered did not reach statistical significance. This may have been because any true differences were too small to reach significance with the number of comparisons used except in the case of dry matter which consists of all the other nutrients except water.

The digestion coefficients secured from the trials with steers showed less variation than those from the lamb trials.

Results from these trials indicate that where minimum variation between digestion coefficients is desirable together with the use of a minimum number of animals, steers are the more satisfactory test animals. However, lambs reflect differences between different feeds to about the same degree as do steers and where somewhat larger differences are being measured or where more animals can be used, the lower cost and greater ease in experimenting with lambs make them very desirable test animals to use. Coefficients secured from tests with lambs where several animals are used would probably be accurate enough to apply to cattle in computing the ordinary farm ration.

¹ A contribution from the Animal Husbandry Department. Approved for publication by the Director of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. Publication No. 256 of Journal Series.

³ Supported in part by a grant from Swift and Company, Chicago, Illinois.

² Present addresses Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kan.5 and Colorado A&M, Fort Collins, Colo. respectively.

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