Abstract
UNDER New Zealand conditions of sheep-farming, incisors of grazing sheep wear much more rapidly on improved pasture, chiefly ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and white clover (Trifolium repens), than on the finer native pastures of low carrying capacity. The cause is not nutritional in the generally accepted sense, however1. It would rather seem that certain substances in the herbage of ‘improved’ pastures dissolve the teeth, the process being aided by the abrasive action of the plant fibre. Wear is also increased in mouths with certain undesirable anatomical characteristics which appear to be hereditary in origin.
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BARNICOAT, C., HALL, D. Attrition of Incisors of Grazing Sheep. Nature 185, 179 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185179a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/185179a0
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