The objectives of the project are:
1. to get an overview of ad lib MR feeding management on professional Swiss dairy goat / sheep farms;
2. to experimentally investigate feed selection in dairy goats and sheep,
a. by composing homogeneous MR rations commonly fed on Swiss farms so that components cannot be selected (to ensure ad libitum feeding),
b. by assessing the preference for homogeneous MR or its single feed components when offered simultaneously;
c. by measuring the motivation to select plant parts;
3. to investigate on-farm how feeding behaviour, activity (synchrony), and social behaviour (agonistic interactions) are influenced by ad libitum feeding of homogeneous MR and its feeding management.