1. Five experimental diets were offered ad lib. for 21 d to five sheep in a 5 × 5 Latin-square design experiment as follows: pelleted grass meal alone (control); pelleted grass meal plus hydrochloric acid (470 mmol/kg dry matter (DM)); pelleted grass meal plus 470 mmol HCl/kg DM and either an equivalent amount of calcined magnesite (MgO) (235 mmol/kg DM) or twice the amount (470 mmol MgO/kg DM); pelleted grass meal plus 470 mmol MgO/kg DM.

2. MgO supplementation partly prevented the reduction in food intake caused by HCl, being more effective at the low than at the high level. When fed alone, the high level of MgO had a slight adverse effect on food intake.

3. There was no significant treatment effect on either the pH or volatile fatty acid concentrations of rumen fluid. MgO supplementation was only slightly effective in preventing the metabolic acidosis caused by HCl supplementation, as indicated by blood and urine acid–base measurements.

4. With the MgO-supplemented diets, values for the faecal and urinary excretion of magnesium were approximately 70 and 10% respectively of Mg intake and were not significantly affected by HCl supplementation. For rumen fluid, the water-soluble Mg concentration as a percentage of the total Mg concentration was similar for each treatment, approximately 90%. For faeces, the corresponding value was also similar for each treatment, approximately 30%.

5. MgO supplementation altered the effect of dietary HCl on faecal calcium excretion and on the balance of Ca, but did not alter its effect on urinary Ca excretion.

6. It is concluded that the beneficial effect of MgO supplementation on the intake of the HCl-treated diet was related more to its influence on dietary pH than on conditions in the rumen or the acid–base balance of the sheep.