Measurement at pasture of intake,digestibility and chemical composition of the diet of nursing ewes,using Faecal NIRS

摘要

To improve efficiency of animal production at pasture, the evaluation of the diet in situ, is a prerequisite.Faecal NIRS can be a good alternative to estimate the diet quality of grazing animals, by providing a rapid, low cost and highly reproducible diagnostic (Review of Shepherd and Walsh,2007).The objective of this study was to use the faecal NIRS method calibration previously realised for rams in stalls, to evaluate at pasture the diet quality of suckling ewes.The consistency of the estimates using faecal NIRS was evaluated by comparing the estimated diet quality, to milk production of to pasture characteristics, since no existence of any reference method to measure the diet at pasture.