Measuring motivation for forage in feedlot cattle fed a high-concentrate diet using a short-term thwarting test

A thwarting test, where animals are able to interact with feed but not consume it, can be used to measure how valued the resource is. It is expected that feedlot cattle will be motivated to access additional roughage because of its potential to alleviate symptoms of ruminal acidosis caused by high-concentrate rations. The objective of this study was to measure how motivated cattle fed a high-concentrate diet are to access additional forage, when offered it freely for 8 short exposures before being prevented from consuming the resource, in a thwarting test. Eighteen animals, fed a finishing ration ad-libitum, were offered a small amount of either beardless wheat hay (WH; n=9) or their primary diet (TMR; n=9) in a plastic bin twice daily for a maximum of 1 h over 4 d (exposures 1-8). Then on the 5th day (thwarting test), animals were given access to but prevented from consuming their treatment diet by covering it with wire for 30 min. There was no evidence of treatment differences detecte..., Please see the associated research publication for methodological details. , Please see the assoicated README file.