Forage yields and nutritive values of oat and triticale pastures for grazing sheep in early spring

Small-grain winter cereals can be utilized as early spring pastures in temperate climates to relieve grazing pressure and potentially mitigate feed shortages. This study was conducted to determine the effects of triticale and oat cereal pastures grazed by sheep during early spring on forage yields, nutritive values, and nutritional requirements of sheep. The research was carried out over three consecutive years, from 2015 to 2017, at the Sheep Research Institute in Bandırma-Balıkesir, located in the Marmara region of Türkiye. The treatments were arranged in a completely randomized block design, with the two forage species, triticale and oat, randomized within each of three blocks. The animal material for the study consisted of 24 Karacabey Merino sheep, each 2 years old, with an average live weight of 57.6 ± 0.5 kg, all in the late lactation stage. In each replication, four sheep were included, resulting in a total of 12 sheep grazing in each of the triticale and oat pastures. The sheep grazed exclusively on the cereal pastures without any additional feed, and had unrestricted access to water throughout the entire period of the experiment. The dry matter yields (DMY), dry matter intakes (DMI), nutritive values, and mineral contents of the cereal species were determined. The DMY showed significant differences over the years (