Table 2. Nutritive value and components of pasture silage (silage) and fresh pasture (pasture) used as feed for the animals in this study.
| Date | Feed | Metabolisable energy (MJ/kg of dry matter) | Organic mattera | Acid detergent fibrea | Neutral detergent fibrea | Crude proteina | Crude fata | Organic matter digestibilitya | NH4-Nab | pHc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | Silage | 11.7 | 90.2 | 34.0 | 49.9 | 16.2 | 3.8 | 72.8 | 9.4 | 3.9 |
| Aug | Silage | 11.6 | 89.0 | 35.8 | 47.2 | 18.5 | 3.6 | 72.6 | 7.2 | 4.1 |
| May +1yr | Silage | 10.3 | 88.9 | 37.9 | 50.5 | 14.1 | 2.8 | 64.3 | 7.0 | 4.5 |
| May | Pasture | 11.9 | 90.9 | 22.8 | 38.8 | 22.9 | 2.9 | 82.5 | n.d. | n.d. |
| Aug | Pasture | 12.5d | 88.2 | 21.3 | 39.0 | 29.6 | 3.7 | 85.0e | n.d. | n.d. |
| Nov | Pasture | 11.7 | 92.6 | 27.4 | 50.8 | 15.6 | 2.2 | 78.2 | n.d. | n.d. |
| Feb | Pasture | 11.8 | 90.0 | 23.5 | 43.6 | 24.2 | 2.5 | 80.4 | n.d. | n.d. |
| May +1yr | Pasture | 12.5d | 89.4 | 21.4 | 36.4 | 26.9 | 3.4 | 85.0e | n.d. | n.d. |
n.d. not determined.
aComponents estimated by NIRS analysis are reported as percent of dry matter.
bNH4-N, ammonia nitrogen as a fraction of total nitrogen.
cpH estimated by NIRS.
dNIRS estimates are limited to a ME 12.5 MJ/kg of DM.
eNIRS estimates are limited to 85% organic matter digestibility.