Consumer interest in purchasing milk based on the cow's diet and time spent grazing is growing. This research aims to address these questions by developing a method to regularly quantify the amount of grass in the diet of dairy cows at a national level. The method included the development of a model and the expansion of an existing Irish farm accountancy survey to collect extra data required to estimate cow forage intakes (e.g. turnout and housing dates). The survey was carried out on 275 - 318 nationally representative Irish dairy farms over a three year period. Annual cow feed intakes were calculated to meet net energy requirements for production, maintenance, pregnancy, growth and live weight change. The results showed that grass silage and grazed grass combined accounted for 95% of the cows' diet as fed. Grazed grass comprised 75% of the cow's diet as fed (60% on a DM basis). Our dietary results were in line with previous international research estimates for grazing dairy cows. The method we developed can be applied in countries with similar data collection systems. These grass metrics enable consumers to become more informed about the origin of their food.
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