Feeding behaviour and drinking activities of Kacang goat fed high and low fiber diets

Diets for goats in confinement area influence their feeding behaviour. Natural grass (NG) and total mixed rations (TMR) that have different crude fiber content and texture will affect eating, rumination, and chewing activity of the goat. This study was set up to explore the feeding behaviour and drinking activities of Kacang goat fed NG (high fiber diet) and TMR (low fiber diet). A total of 12 Kacang goats was set up in completely randomized design. The treatments were different types of diets included NG containing 35% crude fiber and having natural texture, and TMR containing 29% crude fiber and grounded. The feeding behaviour and drinking activities observed included eating, ruminating, and drinking activities were recorded every 5 minutes for 48 hours. One way of ANOVA using SPSS statistics software version 19 was used to analyse data. The result indicated that NG was eaten slower (P=0.03) than TMR that was about 0.74 min/g of dry matter vs. 0.46 min/g of dry matter. There was a tendency (P=0.81) that goat fed NG spend eating activities longer than goat fed TMR (352.5 min/d vs. 337.5 and 324.4 min/d). Goats fed TMR spent more drinking activities than goats fed NG (18.8 and 15.0 min/d vs. 0.6 min/d). It can be concluded that high fiber feed needed more time to eat and spent higher meal time (min)/DMI (g) that caused lower feed intake than low fiber feed. In addition, goat fed TMR have to provide drinking water more than goat fed NG.