The Effect of Chopping versus Grinding on the Nutritive Value Index of Early versus Late Cut Red Clover and Timothy Hays

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Abstract
Feeding trials with ewe lambs were conducted to evaluate the significance of physical form and stage of maturity on the Nutritive Value Indices of 2 species of dried forage. When compared to chopped material, the effect of grinding either Red Clover or Timothy hays was to increase significantly voluntary intake and the Nutritive Value Index, the latter being true in spite of a slight reduction in energy digestibility. In this study, forage maturity had less effect on its feeding value than physical form. A slight reduction in both voluntary intake and energy digestibility with advancing maturity contributed to a small but significant decrease in the Nutritive Value Indices of the forages. The highly significant correlation between animal response and Nutritive Value Index confirmed the usefulness of the latter as a measure of the effective feeding value of a forage.