A comparison of grass silage and whole crop fodder beet Silage when fed to sheep.

The use of fodder beet in diets fed to cattle and sheep has always been valued highly. Recent long-term experiments have shown that the palatability and high feeding value of fodder beet is fully preserved during the ensiling process. The objective of this experiment was to compare the nutritive value of whole crop fodder beet silage with that of grass silage when fed to sheep. The grass silage was harvested from a primary growth of perennial ryegrass, which had a dry matter (DM),water soluble carbohydrate and crude protein contents of 191,137, and 53 g/kg DM respectively on 30/31 May following a 12 hour wilt and had 2.5 litres of formic acid applied in the field via the forage harvester. The whole crop fodder beet (var. Amigo, DM 155 g/kg; CP. 65 g/kg DM) was harvested on 30 October using a whole crop harvester. Eight cheviot cross castrated male sheep weighing on average 47 kg were randomly allocated to the two silage treatments, and then housed in metabolism cages fitted with urine and faeces separators. The trial consisted of an initial 10 day acclimatisation period and a further 10 days during which feed intake, faeces and urinary output were recorded.