Preference by sheep and goats among hay of eight tall fescue cultivars

Grazing ruminants use both visual cues and taste in selecting their diet. P reference during grazing may not; be the same when forage is dried for hay and cut into lengths-prior to feeding in confinement. Eight cultivars of ta ll fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), previously evaluated for preferenc e while grazed, were harvested three times over a period of 2 yr. The hays were air-dried, baled, and passed through a hydraulic bale processor prior to feeding. Five experiments were conducted. All three harvests were evalua ted with sheep and the last two also with goats, using six animals each tim e. During an adaptation phase, hays were offered alone as meals. In the exp erimental phase, every possible pair of hays (28 pairs) was presented for a meal. Data were analyzed by multidimensional scaling and by traditional an alyses. Preference was significant among cultivars in all experiments. Mult idimensional scaling showed that selection was based on two criteria with t wo dimensions being significant. Sheep preferred KENHY followed by KENTUCKY 31 and STARGRAZER but preferenced against PARCEL. HIMAG, MO-96, and C1 wer e intermediate and MOZARK was variable. Goats were similar to sheep in pref erring KENHY followed by STARGRAZER and selected against MOZARK and BARCEL. KENTUCKY 31, HIMAG, MO-96, and C1 were intermediate. In all five experimen ts, the general association was positive for available carbohydrate fractio ns and negative for fiber fractions that contribute to cell wall rigidity.