What is iNDF or uNDF? A: The fiber that is locked within lignin and never (ever) capable of being digested is now termed indigestible NDF (iNDF). We use undigested NDF (uNDF) at 120 or 240 hours of digestion to estimate iNDF.

This subject may sound ludicrous, yet there is a real and present meaning to the attention-grabbing phrase. The term “anti-nutrition” has been used periodically within animal nutrition conversation but more recently in on-farm support calls and while troubleshooting with consultants to discuss nutrition measures that relate to challenges in animal health and performance.

Forage will always be an important and key point of dairy nutrition. With constant fluctuation in forage quality crop-to-crop and year-to-year, it can be perplexing to try to determine how cows will respond. As a supporting consultant working with thousands of dairy consultants, three key questions continue to re-emerge relating to forage quality and change.

With the turn of the new year, most dairy and beef producers are feeding last fall’s harvest of high-moisture corn, corn silage and other cereal grains. But let’s think back to when these high-starch forages and grains were planted and harvested to understand if you really captured every bushel of corn in your corn silage or high-moisture corn.

It’s that time of the year. The leaves have colored and fallen, football season is in full swing, and we’re coming to grips with what kind of forage quality we have to feed deep into 2015. Hay and haylage crops are in storage and corn silage is being harvested throughout the Upper Midwest. While some were interested in my Halloween costume, more importantly and not jokingly, more people are asking about this year’s crop quality. How is our 2014 forage shaping up?

On-farm variation is a hot topic. Forages, commodities or grains, TMR mixing and delivery, and cow level sorting are sources of variation that change the diet cows eat from that directed by a nutrition consultant. There are many opportunities to improve and gain in each of these areas. Focusing on forages alone, it’s been long understood that dry matter varies, and hopefully measures are taken to control the variation.

A vast area of the U.S. was stricken with drought throughout the 2012 growing season, dragging forage and grain yields down in its wake. The weather in 2013’s growing season has taken a swing to the opposite end of the spectrum, supplying excessive rain in many areas and creating conditions unsuitable for both planting and harvesting.