In the present experiment, the eating and rumination behaviour of sheep was investigated after feeding of the herbages harvested at three times (1st, 2nd and 3rd cutting ; forage A, B and C) from the same pasture (Italian ryegrass/red clover).
Crude protein content of herbage tended to increase with an increase of cutting times (1st to 3rd), and contrarily, the content of crude fibre tended to decrease with an increase of cutting times. This would be caused by an increase of the clover ratio in the pasture plants.
The time spent eating forage C was markedly shorter than for forages A and B, and thus, the rate of eating was fairy fast in the feeding of forage C. This might indicate that forage C was more easy to make into a bolus for swallowing than forages A and B.
The time spent ruminating per day was greater with forage C than with forages A and B. The total time spent chewing (eating plus ruminating) was 723, 700 and 686 minutes per day in forages A, B and C, respectively, and these figures are in proportion to the content of dietary crude fibre. This result suggests that the time spent chewing for comminuting the food eaten, during eating and during ruminating, would be greately influenced by a difference in the contents of dietary crude fibre.