Diurnal variations in the excretion of faeces and urine by sheep fed once daily or at hourly intervals

Abstract

1. A machine is described which automatically releases previously weighed rations to individually penned sheep at hourly intervals for 24 h. 2. Six sheep were kept in a room with constant light, temperature and continuous background noise and given 912 g lucerne daily at 10.00 h or at hourly intervals by means of the automatic feeder. Faeces and urine were collected every 2 h. 3. Hourly feedings reduced the variation between 2-hourly collection periods by 47, 87, 90, 85, 70 and 91% for total dry-matter content of the faeces, faeces dry-matter concentration, total urine output, urine specific gravity, urine nitrogen concentration and total N content of the urine respectively.