February 2018 Newsletter - #73
 
 
In This Issue
About Us
The Dairy One Forage Lab excels in providing high quality analyses  
and customer service. Our goal is to provide analytical services designed to meet the expanding demands of modern agriculture.  
New technology and traditional methods are combined to deliver fast, accurate results.
 
AMTS Launches New Beef Model
By Mariann Fessenden, BS, PAS, Academic Liaison AMTS


Agricultural Modeling and Training Systems (AMTS) is excited to announce an addition to its product line of computer based nutritional software, AMTS.GrowingCattle. This program is a tool that will allow nutritionists, consultants, and feedlot operators to evaluate a mix of diets, environmental conditions, animal and feed characteristics, and economic situations to project animal performance and farm profitability for growing cattle.

 

Designed specifically for feedlot or custom growing operations, AMTS.GrowingCattle uniquely considers economic factors in relation to feeding decisions to assist in profitable outcome based decisions.

AMTS.GrowingCattle uses equations from the Beef NRC, 1984; Beef NRC, 2000; and Dairy NRC, 2001. Similar in some ways to our foundation program AMTS.Cattle.Pro, AMTS.GrowingCattle takes into consideration factors that will influence the rate of gain and characteristics associated with rate of gain. Users can build templates that will apply the environmental factors affecting the animals' requirements depending on the month. Feeds for use in the feedlot are pulled from the extensive AMTS feed library based on the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System (CNCPS) feed library. Users are also able to create and apply economic templates that are built around purchase and sale prices, interest rates, fees, and other costs associated with raising animals. Using the feed information, recipes are created for different cattle pens.

Animals being raised for returns based on growth present a different challenge for nutritionists than animals being raised for other purposes. The diet is usually a fairly set combination of ingredients. Profitability of an animals group can hinge on small differences of feed characteristics and environmental conditions. AMTS.GrowingCattle is unique in the industry in that it takes the traditional approach to examination of feed and environmental factors while also adding an economic layer. Producers can look at their inputs and run profit analyses under varying economic situations to help them make diet changes and determine optimal sale time. They can project the profitability of a group of animals given feed, environment, and cost. Producers can use this knowledge to make the best deal when considering purchase, sale, and feeding decisions.

The Cattle screen is the primary work screen. There, each feeding group of animals can be analyzed for feed use, profit summary, profit projection, and period costs. Changing inputs will allow growers to run "what if" scenarios that will assist them in making selling decisions based differing market factors.



AMTS adds AMTS.GrowingCattle to the suite of AMTS software products. From mill to mouth, we strive to supply the nutritionist and consultant with science-based tools focused on managing and achieving optimal resource use and farm viability. For more information, see https://agmodelsystems.com/growingcattle/

Remember your ration is only as good as the information you or your nutritionist enter into the model. Test your forages and grains regularly to balance your diet and keep an eye on changes. For routine testing, we recommend our NIR packages such as the (321) Forage NIR Prime or the (327) Forage NIR Pro. When looking to troubleshoot, we recommend the (11) Ration Balancer or (311) Ration Balancer Plus. Contact us if you have any questions or would like more information!
Upcoming Events - Come see us!
 
February 7-9, 2018 
Southwest Nutrition Conference
Phoenix, AZ
 
February 11, 2018 
Rutger's Horse Seminar
New Brunswick, NJ
 
February 28, 2018
Northwest New York Forage Congress
Mount Morris, NY
https://nwnyteam.cce.cornell.edu/event.php?id=475

March 7-8
NEDPA
Syracuse, NY
https://prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/NEDPA

April 4-5
Canadian Dairy Expo
Stratford, Ontario
 
April 10
Herd Health and Nutrition Conference
Syracuse, NY
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Dairy One - Forage Laboratory
730 Warren Road ~ Ithaca, NY ~ 14850
Phone:  1-800-344-2697 Ext. 9962