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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2021
Feeding lambs a single ration, with a fixed protein:energy ratio, from weaning until slaughter will incur inefficiencies of protein utilisation if protein requirements (relative to energy requirements) vary with stage of growth. Kyriazakis and Oldham (1992) have demonstrated the ability of sheep to select systematically between diets of low and high protein content. The objective of this experiment was to use a choice-feeding methodology to identify optimum dietary protein concentrations at different stages of lamb growth.
Eighty Suffolk cross-bred lambs were weaned at 6 weeks of age, blocked by sex and then live weight and allocated at random (within block) amongst 16 pens. Pens were allocated at random to one of two dietary regimens: SINGLE (concentrate containing 200g CP/kg as-fed) or CHOICE (free choice between concentrates containing 170 or 230g CP/kg as-fed).