Silage intake, rumination and pseudo-rumination activity in sheep studied by radiography and jaw movement recordings

1. The eating and ruminating activity of four rams given long-chopped silage ad lib. in two daily meals was studied by jaw movement recordings. The events of rumination and pseudo-rumination were observed by fluoroscopy and by cineradiography.2. The rate of eating was highest at the beginning of the main meal and then declined gradually.3. The silage intake level was low.4. The swallowed silage did not accumulate at the cardiac region but was forced into the dorsal sac of the rumen by the contractions of the reticulum and cranial sac of the rumen. For regurgitation the solid particles had to return via the ventral and cranial sac of the rumen into the reticulum.5. Liquid reticular contents with floating solid particles were aspirated into the oesophagus during the maximum of the regurgitation contraction of the reticulum.6. The rumination activity during the day presented a high proportion of pseudo-rumination cycles whereas during the night the rumination became progressively normal.7. Pseudo-rumination was caused by delayed return of the fibrous silage particles into the reticulum. Thus in pseudo-rumination the regurgitated material consisted predominantly of fluid containing only a small quantity of solid particles.8. The results explain why long-chopped silage intake is associated with pseudo-rumination, a lower breakdown of particles and a waste of digestion time.