Abstract:
This paper reports an experiment aimed to determine if ad libitum feeding of low or high digestibility supplements improved weight gain and cashmere production of cashmere buck kids (mean ± se, liveweight 24.8 ± 0.5 kg) grazing winter pastures. The design was 3 feeding treatments: Control (C) - grazing with no supplement; Straw (S) - grazing with ad libitum barley straw; Lupin (L) - grazing with ad libitum whole lupin grain (Lupinus angustifolius) x 3 replicates each of 4 goats. Feeding began on June 26 and finished on August 18. From August 19 to November 17 all goats grazed together with green pasture availabilities > 2500 kg DM/ha. Intake of straw in S was 412 ± 59 g DM/head/day and intake of lupins in L was 723 ± 24 g DM/head/day. Animals in S wasted 57% of the straw fed in the hay racks. L resulted in substitution of lupins for pasture. Feeding of lupins significantly increased liveweight at the end of winter and spring, and increased pasture availability and body condition at the end of winter. Supplements of low digestible straw provided no benefits in liveweight gain. Results indicate that to obtain liveweight gain during winter cashmere goats require green pasture availabilities significantly >850 kg DM/ha. Supplementation did not affect cashmere production (mean ± se, total fleece weight 353 ± 15 g, cashmere weight 126 ± 9 g and cashmere fibre diameter 15.2 ± 0.1 µm). Weaner cashmere bucks exhibited only partial compensatory liveweight gain during spring. In conclusion cashmere bucks can grow rapidly during winter if provided with adequate highly digestible feedstuffs while provision of low digestible forages will provide little or no benefits.
