The INRA Feeding System for Ruminants has been renewed to better address emerging challenges for animal nutrition: prevision of productive responses, product quality, animal health and emissions to the environment, in a larger extent of breeding contexts. The new system is mainly built from meta-analyses of large data bases, and modelling. The dietary supply model accounts for digestive interactions and flows of individual nutrients, so that feed values depend on the final ration. Animal requirements account for variability in metabolic efficiency. Various productive and non-productive animal responses to diets are quantified. This book presents the whole system for dairy and meat, large and small ruminant production, including specificities for tropical and Mediterranean areas. The first two sections present biological concepts and equations (with their field of application and statistical accuracy) used to predict intake (including at grazing) and nutrient supply (Section 1), animal’s requirements and multiple responses to diets (Section 2). They apply to net energy, metabolisable protein and amino acids, water, minerals and vitamins. Section 3 presents the use of concepts and equations in rationing with two purposes: (1) diet calculation for a given performance objective; and (2) prediction of the multiple responses of animal to diet changes. Section 4 displays the tables of feed values, and their prevision. All the equations and concepts are embedded in the fifth version of INRAtion® software for practical use.

Beef Cattle Feeding and Nutrition is the third in a series of books on animal feeding and nutrition. These books are designed to keep readers abreast of the rapid developments in feeding and nutrition. These developments have resulted in changes in diets, the use of new feed processing methods, improved use of by-product feeds, and more supplementation with minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and nonprotein nitrogen compounds. The book is organized into four parts. Part I focuses on the nutrient requirements of beef cattle. Beginning with a review of rumen physiology and energy requirements, the remaining chapters discuss the vitamin, mineral, and protein, requirements of beef cattle. Part II on feedingstuffs includes studies on pasture and other forages; hay and haylage making; silage and crops for silage; and concentrates for beef cattle. Part III includes studies on breeding herd nutrition and management; and milk production and calf performance. Part IV on cattle finishing covers cattle finishing systems; feedlot disease; and economics of cattle feeding.

NorFor is a semi-mechanistic feed evaluation system for cattle, which is used by advisors in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This book describes in detail the system and it covers five main sections. The first is concerned with information on feed characteristics, feed analysis and feed digestion methods. The second section describes the digestion and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract and the supply and requirement of energy and metabolizable amino acids. The third section considers the prediction of feed intake and physical structure of the diet. The fourth section focuses on model evaluation and the final section provides information on the IT solutions and feed ration formulation by a non-linear economical optimization procedure. This book will be of significant interest to researchers, students and advisors of cattle nutrition and feed evaluation.

Deals with feed evaluation systems, the nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock and the feeding value of a wide range of feedstuffs. This book lists about 800 typical forages, 65 crop residues and 120 concentrate and by-product feeds. It is suitable for teachers, specialist scientists and industrialists.

This widely used reference has been updated and revamped to reflect the changing face of the dairy industry. New features allow users to pinpoint nutrient requirements more accurately for individual animals. The committee also provides guidance on how nutrient analysis of feed ingredients, insights into nutrient utilization by the animal, and formulation of diets to reduce environmental impacts can be applied to productive management decisions. The book includes a user-friendly computer program on a compact disk, accompanied by extensive context-sensitive "Help" options, to simulate the dynamic state of animals. The committee addresses important issues unique to dairy science-the dry or transition cow, udder edema, milk fever, low-fat milk, calf dehydration, and more. The also volume covers dry matter intake, including how to predict feed intake. It addresses the management of lactating dairy cows, utilization of fat in calf and lactation diets, and calf and heifer replacement nutrition. In addition, the many useful tables include updated nutrient composition for commonly used feedstuffs.

Provides a historical foundation as well as a review of the state-of- the-art in forage science, detailing 25 years of progress in forage quality, evaluation, and utilization, along with the latest developments and new directions for future research. The volume is divided into six sections: overview of forage science; identification and quantitative measurement of forage quality components; intake as a critical element of forest quality; role of digestion and metabolism in determining forage quality; integrating concepts affecting changes in forage quality; and improving forage quality and evaluation. No index. Member price, $36. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Development in agricultural sciences, particularly in farm animal sciences, resulted in the increased productivity to meet the demand for high quality and relatively cheap protein sources for human nutrition. In parallel, this increased productivity challenges the adequate supply of nutrients, including protein and energy, needed to cover not only high performances, but also insure animal health and welfare, reproduction and quality of products in a sustainable environment. The precise understanding of the animal biology is crucial for animal health and welfare, sustainable animal production, and health of animal product consumers. This book focuses on combining basic and applied research and its practical applications. To achieve these goals, many important topics are presented and discussed in detail. The most important issues in this book are: physiological aspects of protein and energy metabolism and nutrition; animal health and welfare metabolic related issues; effect of feeds and feed processing on energy and protein digestion and metabolism; methodological aspects of research on protein and energy metabolism; environment protection and enhancement of the quality and health-promoting features of animal products. This book constitutes a good source of knowledge for those who like to be up to date with the newest trends and findings in energy and protein metabolism in farm animals.