The diets are based upon research by Professors Doug Hogue and Mike Thonney that showed that including highly digestible fiber sources - like soybean hulls, wheat midds, or corn gluten feed - in diets improved feed intake by meeting the fiber needs of rumen microorganisms.

Some of Professor Hogue's work also showed beneficial effects of including high-quality rumen escaped protein, like that found in fish meal, in the diets. However, fish meal has become so expensive relative to soybean meal and corn gluten feed that it is not economical to include fish meal in diets for lambs.