The experiment was conducted at the Rutherglen research farm,
DEDJTR, North East Victoria between March and July 2010. This study
was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the DEDJTR,
Victorian Government. One hundred and twenty second cross ewe
lambs, approximately 9 month old were assigned to twelve groups
based on initial liveweight (35.3 ± 3.1 kg) and randomly allocated to
four dietary treatments. All lambs were back-grounded on an annual
ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaud.) based pasture for three weeks in the
field prior to entering the experimental shed. They were introduced to
the experimental diets over 7 days and then fed experimental diets ad
libitum for eight weeks during the finishing period. The four dietary
treatments were: Basal diet (annual ryegrass hay and clover hay pellets) = Basal; Basal diet with flaxseed = Flax; Basal diet with algae =
Algae; Basal diet with flaxseed and algae = FlaxAlgae, with three replications (group pens) per treatment.