in BW within group. Treatments, described in Table 1, were 6and 12 wethers per pen and feeder with continuous access (Cont-6 andCont-12, respectively), 2 and 4 wethers per feeder with 8 h/day accessduring daytime (Day-2 and Day-4, respectively), and 4 and 8 wethers perfeeder with 16 h/day access at night (Night-4 and Night-8, respectively).Therefore, based on the ratio of total time to the number of animals perfeeder, the maximum potential feeder occupancy time per wether was 2 hfor Cont-12, Day-4, and Night-8 and 4 h for Cont-6, Day-2, and Night-4.Wethers on Cont-6 and Cont-12 treatments each resided in a 6 × 6 m penwith a feeder. A comparable pen and feeder were used for wethers of boththe Night-4 and Day-4 treatments, and another pen and feeder were usedfor animals of Night-8 and Day-2 treatments. The corresponding Nightand Day groups were switched at approximately 08:00 and 16:00 h everyday. When wethers were not given feeder access, they were situated inthe same type of pen.