FARM
FACT SHEET
APRIL 2019
UNDERSTANDING FEED content and the time spent grazing. The rate at which
forage is digested is a key determinant of dry matter
QUALITY intake and largely influenced by the fibre concentration
of the feed on offer.
This factsheet provides a practical
understanding of:
- the role of forage quality in estimating Why feed quality is important
animal intake and performance Feed intake is influenced by the amount of feed on
- how to identify and fill feed gaps offer only when dry matter availability, supply and
- tools to calculate these gaps palatability are limited. Feed quality is the primary
driver of feed intake and animal productivity.
Key take home points The quality of the feed on offer also determines the
• Test for feed quality; it cannot be seen type and amount of supplements required.
• Compare feed quality parameters (neutral
Feed quality factors of major importance include:
detergent fibre (NDF), protein and energy)
• Crude protein
with animal requirements
• Metabolisable energy
• Is the feed protein deficient or energy deficient?
• Neutral detergent fibre
Or is NDF limiting the intake?
• Minerals and trace elements
• Decide on appropriate choice of supplement
• Calculate amount and cost-effectiveness of
supplement required How to determine feed quality
Green pasture is of higher quality than dry pasture is.
There are inherent differences in feed quality However, beyond that point, visual estimation of feed
between plant species and their components (such quality can be unreliable and inaccurate, particularly
as leaves, stems and roots or tubers). In turn, the when animal performance is important (such as
nutritive value of these components differs according
during: pre mating, pre lambing and pre weaning).
to stage of maturity and the conditions under which
they are grown. Daily dry matter intake (DMI) is also Testing pasture, hay and grain is a cost-effective and
affected by the components of the pasture sward simple exercise, which allows comparison between
that are selected by the grazing animal, its water animal requirements and the quality of feed on offer.
Fact sheet 126
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Key nutrients explained
Testing laboratories measure (or estimate) and 3. Neutral detergent fibre
report feed quality on a per kgDM basis, because Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) =
the nutrients a ruminant needs from its diet are a measure of the forages’ total cell wall or fibrous
contained in the dry matter (DM) portion of the feed. fraction, which consists of celluloses and lignin.
The higher the water concentration of a pasture or
silage, the more the animal must consume to reach As forage NDF increases, the amount of feed an
its daily dry matter intake. animal is able to eat decreases. NDF is expressed as
a percentage of dry matter and, as for crude protein,
For example, a 65kg, twin-bearing ewe in late needs to be converted to grams per kgDM (NDF% x
pregnancy: 10) to calculate daily requirements.
Green winter pasture 12% DM; silage 50% DM NDF can be used to estimate potential intake of DM
• Daily requirement = 1.74kgDM per day
by the following equation:
• Therefore, she needs to eat:
– 14.5kg of wet pasture Dry matter intake (DMI) = liveweight x (120/NDF)
– 3.48kg wet silage (a ewe will not be able to eat For example, compare the potential DM intake of a
this much silage) 65kg ewe eating a high vs. lower quality forage:
• NDF 68% (dry, rank pasture)
– DMI = 65 x (120/68)%
1. Crude protein – DMI = 65 x 1.76%
– DMI = 1.14kgDM per head per day
Crude protein (CP) = a measure of the nitrogen
content of a feed, including true protein (amino • NDF 48% (good quality pasture, silage and high
acids) and non-protein nitrogen (e.g. urea). quality legume hay)
– DMI = 65 x (120/48)%
From a practical perspective, protein drives
– DMI = 65 x 2.5%
performance – such as growth, reproduction, muscle
– DMI = 1.63kgDM per head per day
development, milk and wool production – and is a
key nutrient required by rumen bacteria. Prolonged • NDF 28% (high quality forage brassica)
grazing of low protein dry pasture or feeding low – DMI = 65 x (120/28)%
protein hay can decrease the rumen bacterial – DMI = 65 x 4.28%
populations required for efficient digestion. – DMI = 3.12kgDM per head per day
Crude protein is expressed as a percentage of dry As a general rule, the lower the fibre concentration
matter (DM) and should be converted to grams per (NDF) of the diet, the more an animal will potentially
kg of DM (CP% x 10) to calculate daily requirements. be able to eat in one day. That said, animals cannot
E.g. CP= 15%= 150grams CP/kgDM be relied upon to limit their intake to their daily
Testing laboratories measure the nitrogen content requirements. This impacts on stocking rate decisions
of a forage and calculate crude protein using the and the number of days a paddock can be grazed.
formula CP = N% x 6.25. “Digestibility” is a feed characteristic often referred
N.B. Where conserved forage has been baled too to in nutritional articles, however it is a measure with
wet, the crude protein measurement does not little practical application in the field. The correlation
account for heat damage, which may reduce protein between NDF and digestibility is high (-0.81) – thus
availability. the higher the NDF, the lower the digestibility.
2. Metabolisable energy 4. Minerals and trace elements
Metabolisable energy (ME) = the amount of energy Mineral deficiencies are often the first place
produced from the digestion of feed and available farmers look when stock productivity is lower than
for productive purposes after accounting for that expected. However, in the vast majority of cases, it
lost in urine, faeces, belching and maintenance is an imbalance of demand vs. supply of dry matter,
requirements. protein and/or energy in the diet that is the problem.
That is not to discount the importance of mineral
Metabolisable energy is expressed in the units ME per
deficiencies where and when they do occur. The most
kg of DM or total megajoules per day. In most testing
important macro mineral in a ruminant diet is calcium
laboratories ME is calculated from digestibility and is
and, in the case of cattle, magnesium deficiency can
therefore often reported as “estimated” ME.
cause grass tetany in spring.
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Critical trace elements likely to be deficient in New Dry matter intake is largely a factor of body weight.
Zealand include copper, cobalt, iodine and selenium Furthermore, pasture quality declines with increasing
(Grace, 1983)1. However, these deficiencies tend to be pasture maturity. Therefore, larger animals (such as
farm-specific. (See final section for more details.) cattle) do better on lower quality feed than weaner
lambs. To optimise growth rates in weaners, the
Pasture testing is strongly recommended to
smallest animals should be provided with the highest
determine the extent of the deficiencies and/or any
quality forage available.
interactions likely to be impeding nutrient availability.
Test when pasture is green and again when it has The last trimester of pregnancy presents many
dried off, as deficiencies not found in spring may be challenges for forage-based twin- or triplet-bearing
significant over summer. ewes. The smaller the ewe (60kg vs. 80kg), the less
she is able to eat to meet her daily requirements, so
pasture quality is particularly important. As foetal
When feed quality is important growth rapidly increases in late pregnancy, there
The higher the quality of the feed, the less an animal is some degree of ruminal compression due to the
needs to eat to meet daily protein and energy space taken by the uterus. This limits the ewe’s
requirements. It therefore follows that the smaller the capacity to increase intake to meet an increasing
animal (or, more importantly, the smaller the rumen), nutrient demand.
the greater the importance of high quality forage
availability.
Table 1: Daily nutrient requirement of a 30kg and 40kg lamb growing at 300g/day and a 65kg twin-bearing ewe in
mid-pregnancy (Adapted from NRC, 2007)2
DMI ME density Crude NDF
DMI ME CP Ca P
Potential required protein (max.)
MJ ME/ MJ ME/kg grams/ % of % of grams/ grams/
% of LW kg/day
day DM day DM DM day day
Weaned lamb - 30kg;
4.15% 1.25 14.94 11.95 155 12.4% 29% 8 4
LWG300g/d
Weaned lamb - 40kg;
3.22% 1.29 15.44 11.97 160 12.4% 37% 8.2 4.1
LWG300g/d
Mid- preg: twin-
2.56% 1.67 15.10 9.04 160 9.58% 46% 7.3 4.8
bearing - 65kg
Table 1 shows the challenges weaned lambs face
in reaching their genetic potential for growth, and
the importance of sampling and testing pasture.
Only the highest quality pastures exceed 11.97MJ
ME. Alternatively, the animals need to be allowed
to select only the highest quality components
from a paddock before being shifted. Although
a green pasture is higher in quality than a dry
one, the differences in protein, ME and fibre
(NDF) between two green pastures can result
in significant differences in animal performance
(Table 2).
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Table 2: Pasture test results (June 2016) – North Island. (Adapted from feed analyses collected by R. McNutt)3
Potential MAXIMUM MAXIMUM
Crude ME Live- Maximum
NDF intake % Dry Matter Energy Stock
Paddock Sample Type protein MJ/ weight Liveweight
%DM of Body Intake Intake kg/ Class
% kgDM kg Gain/Day
Weight kg/Day Day
1 Kale 19.0 6.3% 2.53 14.7 13.5 34.11 Lamb 40 >300gm
Plaintain/
2 23.2 5.2% 2.07 27.0 12.6 26.07 Lamb 40 >300gm
white clover
Plaintain/
3 24.5 4.9% 1.96 23.1 11.7 22.92 Lamb 40 >300gm
white clover
Plaintain/
4 19.0 6.3% 2.59 14.7 13.5 34.96 Lamb 41 >300gm
white clover
Ryegrass/
5 40.4 3.0% 1.19 31.7 12.3 14.61 Lamb 40 175gm
native pasture
Ryegrass/
6 43.1 2.8% 1.11 30.4 12.1 13.48 Lamb 40 150gm
native pasture
Ryegrass/
7 44.5 2.7% 1.08 23.7 11.1 11.97 Lamb 40 100gm
native pasture
8 Grass Baleage 49.0 2.4% 1.47 10.8 9.6 14.11 Ewe 60 75gm
Ryegrass/ Maintaining
9 51.3 2.3% 0.94 15.5 8.9 8.33 Lamb 40
native pasture weight
Lucerne
10 51.5 2.3% 1.40 14.2 8.3 11.60 Ewe 60 25gm
Baleage
Ryegrass/ Losing
11 57.8 2.1% 0.83 17.5 7.9 6.56 Lamb 40
native pasture weight
Ryegrass/ Losing
12 58.3 2.1% 0.82 16.0 7.7 6.34 Lamb 40
native pasture weight
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How to identify and calculate feed gaps Example 2: Mature ewe, mid-pregnancy, slowly
on your farm gaining weight @ 65kg
First determine: Daily requirements (see Table 1) to slowly gain weight
in mid-pregnancy:
1. What class of animal and stage of production • Dry matter intake (DMI) capacity =1.67kg
(i.e. dry ewe or growing lamb)? • ME requirements = 15.10MJ or 9.04MJ ME per kgDM
2. How much does the animal weigh? • Protein requirements: 160grams per day or 9.58%
3. What does the animal need (i.e. daily • Maximum NDF in forage = 46%
requirements for protein and ME)?
4.What is the quality of the feed on offer? Assume the pasture tests in Table 2 represent
5. How big is the feed gap (demand vs. supply)? paddocks on your farm where you have the
6. How to fill that gap? What with and will it be option of grazing ewes in mid-pregnancy. Which
cost-effective? paddock would be the closest match to the ewes’
requirements?
Example 1: Weaned lamb @ 40kg LW Answer - Paddock 6
Daily requirements (see Table 1) to be able to
grow at 300g/day:
• Dry matter intake (DMI) capacity = 1.29kg Why Paddock 6?
• ME requirements = 15.44MJ or 11.97MJ ME per • It is the best of a “bad lot”.
kgDM • NDF is below the maximum limit of 37%, therefore
• Protein requirements: 160grams per day or 12.4% there is no limit to daily intake.
• Maximum NDF in forage = 37% • ME is below requirements by a deficit of 1.62MJ/
day (15.1MJ vs. 13.48MJ).
Assume the pasture tests in Table 2 represent • Protein availability, while not limiting, is higher than
paddocks on your farm where you have the is necessary or desirable.
option of grazing the weaned lambs. Which • With a deficit of 1.62MJ ME, offering a low protein
paddock would be the closest match to the lambs’ supplement such as maize (corn) or cereal grain
requirements? at a rate of 120grams per head per day would
overcome this. This is calculated by:
Answer: Paddock 4 Required MJ = 15.1
Available MJ = 13.48
Deficit = 1.62
Why Paddock 4?
• NDF is below the maximum limit of 37%, Cereal grain ME = 13.4MJ ME/kgDM
therefore there is no limit to daily intake. 1.62/13.4 = 0.12kg or 120grams
• Protein concentration is higher than the required
12.4%.
• ME availability is deficient by only 0.27MJ, if Why not Paddock 7?
the lamb does not exceed its required daily DM • Although the protein concentration of the pasture
intake of 1.29kg/day. However, the NDF of this is lower, the ME deficit is greater (3.13MJ). This
pasture is not limiting intake, so an increase in would increase the cost of supplementation (234
daily dry matter intake of 23 grams of pasture grams of grain per head per day) in this paddock.
would ensure daily ME needs were met.
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Choosing the most complementary
supplement
Feed supplements are best used to complement The choice of supplement depends on the:
the available feed. For example: a) amount and quality of paddock feed available AND
- When protein is limiting production, a high b) status of the grazing animals and their changes in
protein hay, silage or grain will be the best nutrient demand throughout the year.
complement and, as a general rule, will also be
the most cost-effective. For example, when lambs are weaned:
- Where there is an energy deficiency identified, If a percentage of the ewes are in sub-optimal
cereal grain is the ideal supplement. If the body condition (below BCS 3), use a lot of feed to
remainder of the diet is high in protein, it is best get there. This approach is preferable to gradually
to choose a low protein feed. increasing body condition over the next 100 days to
- If paddock feed (i.e. forage) is deficient, such as joining. Why? Because short-term supplementation
during winter, then a forage-based supplement with a high-energy cereal grain will preserve some
would be the feed of choice. However, over paddock feed and return the ewes to ideal body
summers following a good spring, there may weight more quickly. This also allows them to
be an excess of dry pasture to be grazed. Grain maintain condition over summer, with lower nutrient
supplementation will enhance feed utilisation requirements, which may better match the quality of
and increase the nutritive value of the total feed on offer.
ration (Table 3).
Table 3: Typical characteristics of a pasture-based system and choice of supplement to complement the
nutritive value of the feed on offer
Supplement Ewe Lamb
Season Paddock feed NDF Protein Energy
(only if required) status status
High quality
Autumn - dry Minimal; dry +/- small green pick High Low Low Joining Weaners
forage
Autumn - wet Adequate; green Mod Mod Mod Grain Joining Weaners
High quality
Winter Minimal; green, low DM Low High Low Pregnant
forage
Spring Plentiful - highest nutritive value Mod Mod Mod Nil Lactation
Summer Plentiful - falling low NV High Falling Falling Grain Dry Weaners
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Choice of supplement Supplementation of minerals and trace
The smaller and lighter the animal, the higher the elements
feed’s nutritive value needs to be, due to limited The most important mineral for growing lambs and
rumen capacity. Therefore, high quality hay is a pregnant ewes is calcium. Lambs require a ratio of
better supplement of protein and energy than very calcium to phosphorus of 2:1 to optimise bone growth
wet silage (<50% DM), and high protein, high ME and reduce the risk of urinary calculi formation in
grain should be used when paddock feed is not wether lambs when grazing low calcium (grass-
limiting. Wet silage and low quality hay are better dominant or cereal-based) pastures.
fed to larger animals, such as crossbred ewes or
cattle. Addition of trace elements to supplementary feed is
often the most expensive way to correct deficiencies.
The choice of grains often comes down to cost and - Where copper, cobalt and selenium deficiencies
availability. However, the choice should be made on exist, intraruminal pellets are the most cost-effective
its cost per MJ ME and/or cost per gram of protein, form of supplementation.
and based on replacing the missing nutrients in the - Selenium deficiency alone can be corrected with a
animal’s diet. long-acting injection every 18 months for sheep and
Another consideration in grain selection may be annually for cattle. Selenium can also be applied
the risk of acidosis and the time available to slowly as prills with fertiliser, orally drenched or given
introduce the grain to allow adaptation of the rumen intraruminally as a bolus or pellets.
bacteria in acidosis prevention. Oats and lupins are - Seasonal deficiencies of cobalt can be effectively
the safest grains to feed, because the introduction treated with a short-acting injection of Vitamin B12,
time is minimal. Conversely, wheat requires particularly for animals destined for early slaughter,
introduction over 14 days. such as weaned lambs.
- Copper deficiency is complicated by the fact that
If pellets are an option, the same considerations the treatment and prevention of either primary or
apply. Unless they are a hay-based pellet (in which secondary deficiency are quite different. Secondary
case, they may be a suitable substitute for both deficiency (often induced by inherently high soil
hay and grain), they should be treated the same as concentrations of molybdenum effectively “locking
wheat and their use based on their nutritive value up” copper) is more difficult to overcome. Paddock
and cost-effectiveness. application of copper sulphate is often a more cost-
Helpful link: Feed cost calculator (NSW Department effective method of prevention, however effective
of Primary Industries) www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/animals- management should involve consultation with both
and-livestock/nutrition/costs-and-nutritive-value/ veterinary and agronomic advisors.
feed-cost-calculator - Iodine deficiency is more commonly seen when
brassica species are being grazed, in particular kale,
This online tool calculates and compares protein, but seasonal and annual variations occur (Grace,
energy and other components for different mixes of 1983)1. The most effective forms of supplementation
livestock feeds. include potassium iodide drench or iodised oil
injections.
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Conclusion
Feed quality cannot be assessed by eye. Testing and
therefore quantifying the protein, energy and NDF
components allows you to make informed decisions
about the type of supplement to use and its cost
effectiveness.
B+LNZ RESOURCES
www.knowledgehub.co.nz
• Resource book - Pasture Quality Q graze
• Learning module – Feed Fundamentals
External resource
• PDF - Use of Trace Elements in New Zealand
Pastoral Farming www.fertiliser.org.nz/
includes/download.aspx?ID=123583
References
Grace, 1983- Managing Mineral Deficiencies in Grazing Livestock
1
NRC, 2007- National Research Council (2007) Nutrient
2
Requirements of Small Ruminants – Sheep, Goats, Cervids and New
World Camelids.
3
R. McNutt- Pasture test results from the Hawkes Bay district NZ
collected and collated by Rebecca McNutt (2016, unpublished)
Factsheets are made possible by sheep and beef farmer
investment in the industry. Beef + Lamb New Zealand is not liable
for any damage suffered as a result of reliance on the information
contained in this document. Any reproduction is welcome provided
you acknowledge Beef + Lamb New Zealand as the source.
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