VistaMilk, in conjunction with Goldcrop, Teagasc and FBA Laboratories, officially launched the new Pasture NIRS project in Teagasc Moorepark on Wednesday.
The project has been undertaken to improve the process of testing the nutritional quality of grass and silage samples.
“Ultimately, the target of the project is to provide an accurate, fast and detailed result on the nutritive quality of either a grass or silage sample. The test will provide an energy, protein and digestibility content in every result,” according to general manager of grass seed and forage crops at Goldcrop Dave Barry.
“This information is great for the farmer, but also for our national grass breeding programmes, as we look to produce the best possible grass varieties for farmers,” he continued.
Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) is the technology used to test grass samples and will be central to the new project.
Results of samples will be automatically uploaded to a farmer's Pasturebase after testing, making the process more user friendly and interactive.
No more guesswork
Speaking on the importance of the project, Teagasc’s animal nutrition researcher Mike Dineen said that having this project in place will take the guesswork out of assessing sward and forage quality.
“The project will enable us to develop Irish equations for the nutritive quality of feeds, enabling more relevant and informed advice at the individual farm level.
The Pasture NIRS project was launched today in Teagasc Moorepark. The project being run by VistaMilk in conjunction with Goldcrop, Teagasc and FBA labratories.
"We will no longer be relying on data from the UK and continental Europe to provide feed quality assumptions. This will be particularly useful in times of where forage quality maybe suboptimal, like the drought of 2018 for example.
"Previous equations we had were not robust enough to handle those types of extremes but this project will change that," he said.
VistaMilk, in conjunction with Goldcrop, Teagasc and FBA Laboratories, officially launched the new Pasture NIRS project in Teagasc Moorepark on Wednesday.
The project has been undertaken to improve the process of testing the nutritional quality of grass and silage samples.
“Ultimately, the target of the project is to provide an accurate, fast and detailed result on the nutritive quality of either a grass or silage sample. The test will provide an energy, protein and digestibility content in every result,” according to general manager of grass seed and forage crops at Goldcrop Dave Barry.
“This information is great for the farmer, but also for our national grass breeding programmes, as we look to produce the best possible grass varieties for farmers,” he continued.
Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) is the technology used to test grass samples and will be central to the new project.
Results of samples will be automatically uploaded to a farmer's Pasturebase after testing, making the process more user friendly and interactive.
No more guesswork
Speaking on the importance of the project, Teagasc’s animal nutrition researcher Mike Dineen said that having this project in place will take the guesswork out of assessing sward and forage quality.
“The project will enable us to develop Irish equations for the nutritive quality of feeds, enabling more relevant and informed advice at the individual farm level.
The Pasture NIRS project was launched today in Teagasc Moorepark. The project being run by VistaMilk in conjunction with Goldcrop, Teagasc and FBA labratories.
"We will no longer be relying on data from the UK and continental Europe to provide feed quality assumptions. This will be particularly useful in times of where forage quality maybe suboptimal, like the drought of 2018 for example.
"Previous equations we had were not robust enough to handle those types of extremes but this project will change that," he said.
SHARING OPTIONS