The development of a system based on near infrared spectroscopy to predict the intake of grass silage as the sole feed by the dairy cow

Abstract

Grass silage remains the major forage component of winter dairy rations, yet its intake characteristics are particularly variable. Major research projects at SAC and ARINI over the past few years have produced two large datasets on ad libitum intake of grass silage and shown that improved silage characterisation methods (NIRS and electrometric titration) can substantially improve the accuracy of prediction of silage intake as the sole forage (Offer et al., 1994; Steen et al., 1995). The objective of this research programme was to integrate these two datasets to provide a common prediction system which would be appropriate for adoption across the United Kingdom