Abstract 170

McSweeney,-CS; Ladds,-PW

Div. Tropical Anim. Sci., CSIRO Davies Lab., Townsville, Qld 4814, Australia.

Australian-Veterinary-Journal. 1988, 65: 1, 28-30; 4 ref.

In studies on the nutritional value of spear grass (Heteropogon contortus) 8 goats, 8 sheep, 4 cattle, and 5 swamp buffaloes were given the grass ad libitum in open-bin feeders. The grass had been harvested during the influorescence stage and was chopped into 30-50 mm lengths. Abscesses inside the cheeks with impacted grass seeds occurred in all goats and sheep. Cattle and buffaloes also had ulcers in the same regions of the mouth but they were smaller than those in the small ruminants. PM examination of a sheep revealed fragments of plant material which lay quite deep in the underlying dermis of the ulcerative area. Grazing ruminants are able to avoid sharp seeds while foraging, but the experimental animals were unable to avoid the awns because of the milling process.