Dietary preferences in adult and juvenile goats

Six adult and six juvenile goats were used to estimate their feeding preferences when three grasses (ryegrass, barley and brome) and two legumes (clover and alfalfa) were tested. Each grass was separately tested with both clover and alfalfa. A comparison between alfalfa and clover was also performed. The plants were harvested just before their utilization, chopped into 4- to 6-cm pieces and offered to the animals in plastic baskets. Preferences were evaluated by means of a series of seven short-term trials. Each short-term trial consisted of two single food presentations and one dloice-presentation. In the first single food presentation animals received one of the two plants to be tested. In the second single food presentation they were offered the alternative plant species. In the choice presentation they received the two species simultaneously. During each presentation animals were allowed to eat for 20 min or take a maximum of 50 bites. In the single food presentations bite rate, bite mass and intake rate of both juvenile and adult animals were influenced by the plant species offered. Indeed, all goats tended to display a higher intake rate and bite mass for grasses than for legumes. A grass legume ratio of the intake rates was also computed for each grass-legume comparison. These ratios tended to be higher for juvenile than for adult goats. The results of the choice presentations indicated that food preferences were not affected by age as all goats preferred grasses to legumes and clover over alfalfa. This experiment showed that age may not play an important role in the development of food preferences