The quantities of straw and concentrate to be handed over
weekly to the farmers were calculated based on the dry matter
(DM) and CP analyses carried out at ICARDA and ME
calculations, and weighed and carefully mixed manually at
ICARDA. On each farm, one family member was trained by
the experimenters to weigh the feeds and to supervise that
feeding was performed exactly to the experimental schedule.
Starting from day 0, the experimental groups of ewes were
separated from the entire flock and fed exclusively the experimental
diets. A 14-day transition period from the diet used
before, which was considered to be part of the entire experiment,
consisted of gradually adapting the animals to higher
amounts of feed in general and especially the unfamiliar test
feeds. Accordingly, on experimental day 0, only 1 kg diet DM
(concentrate to straw ratio, 2:1) was offered per ewe, which
was increased to 2 kg DM/ewe on day 1. From day 9 to day
14, the ewes were offered 2.3 kg DM/day and reached 2.5 kg
DM/day from day 15 to day 50. This meant that after 2 weeks,
0.75 kg straw and 1.75 kg concentrate per head per day were
provided, except for the olive cake group where this was
0.5 kg straw and 2.0 kg concentrate. Half of the daily portion
was offered at 09.00 a.m. and the other half at 05.00 p.m.; this
was always done directly after milking