The use of bakery waste in feedlot taions for sheep

Intensively feeding animals can be a costly exercise, and as a result many producers are exploring innovative ways to reduce their input costs. Commercial by-products from the human food industry (eg brewers grain, citrus pulp and apple pulp) have recently become popular in animal production. Bakery waste displays favourable characteristics for animal production, however, limited information is available on its use in feedlot rations. A feeding trial was undertaken to determine if bakery waste could be successfully incorporated into a production ration for intensively fed sheep. The dietary treatments consisted of three inclusion levels of bread, viz 0, 25 and 50%. All diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isoenergetic. Twenty one merino weaners were randomly allocated to one of the three treatment groups and fed these rations for a total of 70 d. The bread used consisted predominantly of sliced bread and bread rolls, products containing fruit were not included. The bread was dried and crushed prior to incorporation into the rations. There was no significant difference in live weight gain between the treatments. Feed intake was significantly lower (P<0.05) for the 50% bread group compared to the control, and feed conversion ratios and wool growth (both length and fibre diameter) tended to be higher in the 50% bread group. No clinical signs associated with digestive upsets were evident and thus bread can be successfully incorporated into feedlot rations for sheep at both 25 and 50% inclusion levels.