Using In Vitro Total-Tract NDF Digestibility in Forage Evaluation
by Dave Combs1
1Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Introduction
Fiber is an essential component of diets for dairy cattle. In high producing dairy cows, about a quarter of the energy for milk production comes from digested fiber. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF) is a laboratory assay done on forages to measure the total content of fiber in a feed. The NDF is a ‘bulky’, slow to digest feed component,
Update on Corn Shredlage for Dairy Cows
by Lauryn Vanderwerff1, Luiz Ferraretto1, Gustavo Salvati1 and Randy Shaver1,2
1Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2University of Wisconsin-Extension
Introduction
There continues to be a lot of interest in corn silage harvested with a self-propelled forage harvester (SPFH) equipped with an aftermarket processor having cross-grooved processing rolls set for 2- to 3-mm roll gap and greater roll speed differential than has typical
