The long feeder occupancy time per wether and rela-tively low rate of DMI noted by Gipson et al. (2006) with6 wethers per feeder was postulated to have resulted fromlittle competition among animals for feeder occupancy. Acomparable effect did not occur in the present experimentperhaps because it was overridden by physiological con-ditions creating relatively high potential for nutrient use.In addition, although supportive measures were not madeand relevant literature is not available, it is possible thatintroducing wethers on restriction treatments into penswith feeders after being fasted, with initial aggressive feed-ing behavior upon entry, had similar influence on wetherswith continuous feeder access.