The measurement of the degradability of a roughage by means of the nylon bag technique usually requires the preparation of the sample by grinding with a laboratory hammer mill. There is a wide range of screen sizes available which produce samples which range from a fine flour to coarser materials containing particles several millimeters in length. The objective of this experiment was to examine the effect of fineness of grinding on the degradation of roughages as measured by the nylon bag technique.

Samples of hay and barley straw were ground through a 1 mm screen (fine) or through a bar screen with 3-5 by 33 mm slots (coarse). Two grammes contained in nylon bags were incubated in the rumen of each of four sheep fed on a good quality roughage, giving four observations per sample. All bags were introduced into the rumen at the same time relative to feeding. Zero-time losses were determined by washing bags without incubation. Water soluble material by filtration through a Whatman No. 1 filter paper. The particle size distribution of the hay used in Expt 1 is shown by Fig 1.