Nov. 7, 2015 10:50 AM

New lab results report format breaks down the walls of animal nutrition understanding

This item has been supplied by a forage marketer and has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hay & Forage Grower.
Rock River Laboratory, Inc. announces the launch of Visual Reports, a revolutionary new results report format. Offered as a compliment to traditional numbers-driven laboratory results reports, the new Visual Reports showcase laboratory results in graphic format for easily understood quality distinctions of analyte values.

“We spent a lot of time developing and refining this new report format to make sure it fulfilled its key purpose: easily understood analysis information,” explains Zachery Meyer, Rock River Laboratory’s director of operations. “In some cases, laboratory results can seem overwhelming with all of the values in line item form. Realizing that different people interpret information distinctively, we truly believe this new tool has the potential to change the way our industry understands nutritional components.”

The dashboard dial style of the Visual Report format provides color coding to easily decipher if a feed component analyzed in the laboratory is characterized as good, bad or needs improvement – based upon four-year averages and standard deviations. Fully customizable, Visual Reports offer six analyte dials per a report, which can be selected from all routine nutritive and digestions measures available from Rock River Laboratory.

“Our team at Rock River Laboratory is constantly working to break down barriers for our customers,” explains John Goeser, Rock River Laboratory Animal Nutrition, Research and Innovation Director. “These new graphic reports have the potential to remove those challenges that new nutritionists and even experienced professionals may run into when quickly and easily deciphering the potential of a feed component – even while on-farm.”

The additional value from Visual Reports can be realized by many roles within the nutrition management scheme for any herd – from training new nutrition consultants to communicating with producers. The new tool unlocks alternative ways to approach communication among nutrition consultation teams and the producers, veterinarians and other consultants with which they work. Visual Reports also allow for consultants to exemplify the need for specific forage quality tactics and can relay the impact of management decisions to producers in an easily understood format. On-farm decision making is also faster with the help of Visual Reports offering a snapshot assessment of feedstuffs’ nutritive value.


Visual Reports are an additional, free report generated through just a few simple steps on the Rock River Laboratory website. Those interested in observing how this tool can help their business should visit http://bit.ly/visualreports <http://bit.ly/visualreports> for a detailed information sheet and step-by-step written directions to set up Visual Reports for their sample results.

Headquartered in Watertown, Wis., Rock River Laboratory provides production assistance to the agricultural industry through the use of advanced analytical systems, progressive techniques, and research-supported analyses. Employing a team of top specialists in their respective fields, Rock River Laboratory is built on providing accurate, cost-effective, and timely analytical results to customers while featuring unsurpassed customer service.