Sheep digestive speed?

[Danllan]

Purgatives and bullets aside, what's the received wisdom as to how quickly something will take to enter one end of a sheep and leave the other? Assume water as needed; estimates for, grass, hay, cake etc. gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Agrivator]

https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/12378/1/hansson_k_171018.pdf

Some bedtime reading. My first recollection is work by Balch and Campling at Nottingham University, but they don't even figure in the above list of references.

 

[clod hopper]

Interesting topic, I'm sure how much dry matter their feed has plays a big part. GO might be the man for this one.

 

[Paddington]

Oh dear, this sounds like you had something valuable on your person just before the sheep came in.....

 

[clod hopper]

Oh dear, this sounds like you had something valuable on your person just before the sheep came in.....

Like the house key ?

 

[John Chance]

It's all about digestibility. High fibre and less digestible fibre feeds (stemmy grass / hay etc) take longer to digest and exit the stomachs than concentrates. That's why they can eat more concentrates, unless the concentrates give them acidosis. I don't think that % Dry Matter affects it. I know that doesn't answer the actual question.

 

[Danllan]

Oh dear, this sounds like you had something valuable on your person just before the sheep came in.....

No, just running last year's ewe-lambs on some rough ground I'm recovering from long neglect, and wanted to give the cake for long enough to ensure any unwanted seeds are gone before I move them onto decent pasture.

I've always thought that between 12 and 24 hours was sufficient, and it has been in the past. But... I put in some general mix - including crushed grains - with the cake as a marker, and was yet to see any sign of it in their dung after a day, so was just wondering...

@Global ovine any suggestions?

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

Are there a lot of weed species whose seeds will be viable after passing through a sheep? Is any different for a cow?

 

[Danllan]

Are there a lot of weed species whose seeds will be viable after passing through a sheep? Is any different for a cow?

I'm not a botanist so can't give a definitive list, but... in the past I'm pretty certain they have re-deposited rushes, docks and - I think - nettles. I have my suspicions about burdock too, but that seems more likely to have hooked onto them (but I've seen them eat the seeds...). They are the things that I'm concerned about, I guess others could add to them.

 

[clod hopper]

I'm not a botanist so can't give a definitive list, but... in the past I'm pretty certain they have re-deposited rushes, docks and - I think - nettles. I have my suspicions about burdock too, but that seems more likely to have hooked onto them (but I've seen them eat the seeds...). They are the things that I'm concerned about, I guess others could add to them.

They all will have a benefit to the sheep in my opinion just graze them hard before they flower.

 

[John Chance]

If it's any help, in non pregnant ewes, the rumen dumps somewhere around 2% of its contents every hour, so that's about two days to flush them all through. Another day to get through the intestines ?

 

[Global ovine]

Speed through the gut depends on digestibility. If the material is very fibrous and tough (plant material containing lots of cellulose) it will need to be fermented in the rumen by the rumen flora to breakdown that cellulose into carbohydrates for absorption further along the gut. The longer this takes, the less goes in, essentially slowing the throughput. That's why sheep loose weight on hard straws, such as wheat straw, because insufficient nutrients are extracted compared to the sheep's maintenance requirement over the time taken to process such material.
Sheep on very rough grazing forced to clean up may take well over 24 hrs to digest some seed material, as many seed pods and burrs are not only made up from cellulose but also lignin (wood) which is again a complex carbohydrate. Digesting lignin is asking a lot from the rumen flora. Many such protected seeds are designed to be ingested and distributed by animals.

On the other extreme, White Clover for example, is highly digestible. Such material does not need to ferment, as cells literally burst open in the rumen spilling their contents for the digestive enzymes along the gut to break down into simple sugars etc. for absorption. Therefore a sheep can keep on eating as the material keeps moving rapidly through the gut and can be expelled in a matter of a few hours. That's why I keep banging on about productivity being related to digestibility.

 

[Danllan]

Speed through the gut depends on digestibility... That's why I keep banging on about productivity being related to digestibility.

Thanks for that, helpful as always.; we sometimes forget the evolutionary dependence that plants have upon animals for seed distribution.

Very relieved you haven't stated any major benefits to be gained by sheep having access to my enemies.