NittanyCow
TM
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Presented by
Jake Patton
NittanyCow Software Services
And
Dr. Robert A. Patton
Nittany Dairy Nutrition
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Cow Worksheet
• The Cow Worksheet is the setup worksheet for the ration
• Assign clients, catalogs, and units of measurement
• Enter animal information – lactation stage, milk production, breed, etc
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
The Basics
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Energy Worksheet
• Processing Factor reflects degree of grinding or processing
• NEl, NEg, NEm
• Metabolizable Energy
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Fiber Worksheet
• Particle size data for feeds broken down as a percent of total NDF
• NittanyCow uses different NDF digestibility formulas based on compositional data of feed
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
CHO Worksheet
• Revised ruminal starch degradability and total tract starch digestibility figures for improved
accuracy
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
CHO Worksheet
(continued)
• NittanyCow does not attribute values for glucose precursors to individual feeds, rather,
glucose is analyzed based on the entire ration
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
VFA Worksheet
• Volatile Fatty Acid (VFA) data analyzes contribution of each feed to the production of VFA’s
• Affects rumen pH and energy prediction – summarized in Analysis section
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Proteins Worksheet
• Metabolizable Protein (MP) and Microbial Crude Protein (McrbCP) do not list values for
individual feeds, but totals for these nutrients are listed
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Amino Acids Worksheet
• Amino acids are summarized – predictions very similar to those of AminoCow™
• Methionine:lysine ratio summarized in Analysis section
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Fats Worksheet
• NittanyCow allows analysis of fatty acids for each feed, expressed as a percent of total fat
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Vitamins Worksheet
• Vitamins includes fields for Choline, Niacin, Biotin, Carotene, and Folic Acid
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Minerals Worksheet
• NittanyCow includes a complete listing of all minerals recognized as significant by NRC
• Users have the ability to add more minerals in the Custom Worksheet (seen later)
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
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Mycotoxins Worksheet
NittanyCow allows users to monitor and analyze the effect of mycotoxins on a ration
Includes the most commonly analyzed mycotoxins
Limits derived from figures provided by Dr. Lon Whitlow of North Carolina State University
Impact of mycotoxins on production summarized in Analysis section
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Custom Worksheet
• NittanyCow allows users to set up customized fields to track any nutrient in their practice
• Establish units of measurement and requirements to balance for any nutrient
• Save the custom field to use in every ration
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Cost Worksheet
• NittanyCow allows users to track feed cost using different units of measurement
• Costs breakdowns provided for different components of the ration for cost:benefit
comparison of feeds
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Making Mixes
• Making mixes now easier than ever – just a few clicks and done
• View mixes as a single feed or view mixed feeds individually
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Rumen Health Analysis
• Provides prediction and recommended ranges for feeding level of forages
• Predicts rumen pH based on dietary inputs
• Summarizes Forage:Concentrate ratio
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Nitrogen Efficiency
• NittanyCow analyzes predicted nitrogen intake and excretion to help users
maximize the use of this expensive nutrient
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Environmental Impact
• NittanyCow allows users to devise waste management strategies based
on predicted excretion of waste products on a per cow/per day basis
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Mineral Analysis
• Important mineral ratios are summarized for quick analysis
• Predicted anion-cation balance
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Fatty Acid Analysis
• Based on inputs from the Fats Worksheet, NittanyCow predicts the
consumption of specific fatty acids
• Also predicts the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Amino Acid Analysis
• Summarizes key amino acids (Met, Lys, His) as a percent of MP
• Methionine:Lysine ratio also shown
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Productivity Analysis
• NittanyCow provides predicted milk production level based on the total
energy of the ration
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Mycotoxin Analysis
• Mycotoxin and fusarium indices are a relative measure of contamination
based on the allowable limit
• NittanyCow predicts the likelihood of economic damage due to mycotoxin
contamination
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Autobalancer
• The NittanyCow Autobalancer uses a least square means approach
• Provides a feasible, though imperfect, solution based on the smallest difference from
requirements
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
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Advanced Features
Import AminoCow™ and CPM-Dairy™ Rations into NittanyCow
Import and apply lab analyses to feeds
Create and save customized ration reports
Formulation Mode
Easy update feature
Convenient database transfer
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Customer Support
Customer support (that’s me!) dedicated to easy access
and fast response
Contact:
Phone (toll free): 1-800-660-4611 (Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. EST)
E-mail: help@nittanycow.com
On the web: www.nittanycow.com
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
www.nittanycow.com
From the website, you can:
• Download 30-day Free Trial
• View video tutorials to learn key features quickly
• Contact the NittanyCow Help Desk
• Purchase a User License
NittanyCow™
Dairy Ration Evaluator
Pricing
30-Day Trial
FREE
Initial Two-Year Activation
$375.00
Annual Renewal*
$125.00
*After expiration of initial two-year activation
Model Predictions of
Protein Flow and Starch
Digestion
R.A. Patton
Nittany Dairy Nutrition, Inc.
Will take a look at 2 recent meta-analysis
studies that report on what models predict:
Both have been submitted, but both are as yet
unpublished, and the data may yet change.
Proteins and AA
40 studies and 154 diets that measured MP,
microbial protein, RUP, Met, Lys, Leu, Ile,
Val, Thr, Arg, His and Phe flow to the
duodenum
Study says nothing about performance of
animals; nothing about prediction of
individual AA digestion (although all
models predicted digestion of AA at~80%)
Proteins and AA
Nutrient values for all feeds were the same:
Did not want to evaluate feed libraries
When ingredient composition was not
provided, used values from NRC as
default; all rations adjusted to reflect
reported values.
Proteins and AA
Model default values used for AA composition for
AC and NRC unless real were given in paper.
For CPM all AA composition was default because of
use of undegraded AA, most are unknown
Used model defaults for protein fractions and
degradability constants
Proteins and AA


Used meta-analysis in SAS; study is a random
component;
Evaluated AC, CPM and NRC for mean
prediction, RMSPE, RPE, and R2
% of mean observed 5% -- “Very Accurate”
10% -- “Accurate”
15% -- “Acceptable”
>15% --“Not useful”
Proteins and AA
MP
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
Obs
3027
790
---
AC
2945
769
97.3
CPM
3148
633
NRC
2951
708
RMSPE
RPE
R2
--
---
175.2
5.8
0.95
104.0
104.0
6.7
0.93
97.5
183.1
6.0
0.95
---
Proteins and AA
Microbial
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
R2
Obs
1610
402
---
---
---
---
AC
1605
499
99.7
199.2
12.4
0.76
CPM
2050
415
127.3
178.6
11.1
0.80
NRC
1573
338
97.7
202.5
13.7
0.67
Proteins and AA
RUP
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
R2
Obs
1480
614
---
---
---
---
AC
1138
343
76.9
183.1
12.4
0.91
CPM
1126
315
76.1
245.2
16.6
0.84
NRC
1183
385
79.7
202.5
13.7
0.89
Proteins and AA
MET
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
R2
Obs
47
16
---
---
---
---
AC
48
13
102.5
3.7
7.9
0.94
CPM
59
13
125.5
3.9
8.3
0.94
NRC
47
11
100
3.8
8.1
0.86
Proteins and AA
LYS
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
R2
Obs
157
48
---
---
---
---
AC
161
45
102.5
13.2
8.4
0.92
CPM
178
43
113.4
14.0
8.9
0.91
NRC
160
38
101.9
13.1
8.3
0.92
Proteins and AA
ARG
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
R2
Obs
122
38
---
---
---
---
AC
123
33
100.8
11.2
9.2
0.91
CPM
160
38
131.1
11.4
9.3
0.91
NRC
116
28
95.1
11.2
9.2
0.91
Proteins and AA
HIS
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
Obs
61
20
---
---
AC
59
18
96.7
5.6
9.2
0.92
CPM
69
20
113.4
5.8
9.5
0.92
NRC
56
16
91.8
5.8
9.5
0.92
---
R2
---
Proteins and AA



All models predicted with greater accuracy
on diets of corn silage > alfalfa > grass
All models predicted more accurately for
corn grain based diets than other grains
All models predicted better on low DMI
diets (<35 lb) than high (>50 lb)
Proteins and AA

On grass diets, AC and NRC under
predicted
ARG at 18.5% and 21%
HIS at 21.2% and 23%, respectively
CPM predicted high, but with acceptable
range
Proteins and AA
AC and NC use the same formulas for:
 DMI prediction
 RUP
 AA flow
 Very slight difference for microbial protein
DMI
Lbs DMI/d
Model
Mean
±SE
Obs
42.0
8.4
AC
41.6
5.7
CPM
39.6
5.5
NRC
42.9
6.4
Precaution: Cows were of lower DMI and were
doubly cannulated.
Starch
Different data set, but used same basic
rules, but this time when nutrient values
were not given, used CPM as default
Compared starch degraded in rumen and
starch digested in total tract
41 individual studies with 161 dietary
treatments
Starch
Compared:
Observed
AMTS
CPM
In situ (using Kp of Offner et al.)
NC
Offner and Sauvant (French model)
Starch
TT digestion %
Model
Mean
±SE
%Obs
RMSPE
RPE
R2
Obs
92.7
7.4
---
---
---
---
AMTS
96.0
2.2
103.6
3.62
3.2
0.83
CPM
96.3
2.6
103.9
3.46
3.7
0.78
In situ
92.9
3.5
100.2
3.87
4.2
0.72
NC
91.8
3.5
99.0
3.39
3.6
0.78
OFF
92.9
3.5
100.2
3.87
4.2
0.72
Starch
Ruminal Degradation (lbs)
Model
Mean
±SE
Obs
6.91
3.01
----
AMTS
9.18
3.42
CPM
9.29
In situ
RPE
R2
----
----
----
132.8
0.99
14.40
0.89
3.46
134.5
0.95
13.70
0.90
8.44
3.21
122.1
0.99
14.40
0.89
NC
6.84
2.64
99.0
0.81
11.70
0.93
OFF
7.33
2.73
106.1
0.98
14.10
0.89
%Obs RMSPE
Starch
Post Ruminal Digestion (lbs)
Model
Mean
±SE
Obs
3.63
2.76
----
AMTS
1.74
0.92
CPM
1.65
In situ
RPE
R2
----
----
----
47.8
0.90
24.90
0.90
0.90
45.5
0.85
23.50
0.89
2.09
1.40
57.5
0.90
24.90
0.90
NC
3.61
1.49
99.3
0.76
21.00
0.89
OFF
3.17
1.34
87.3
0.86
23.80
0.92
%Obs RMSPE
Conclusions



All models evaluated appear to try to
model the same diet changes.
For AA and proteins, models are good
enough if you realize that CPM has
consistent errors of over-prediction.
For starch digestion, only NC and OFF
appear to make useful predictions.