The NIRS Consortium, in cooperation with the US Dairy Forage Research Center, will be hosting a special forage testing seminar at World Dairy Expo at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 4, in the back of the Arena Building on the Dairy Forage Seminar Stage. The topic will be, “Application of On-Farm and Laboratory NIRS for Managing Feed Variation,” with Kyle Taysom, Business Development Manager from Dairyland Labs in Arcadia, WI speaking. His talk will include discussion of NIR applications available for farm and lab use and how each of these applications fit into the larger picture of managing feed variation on modern dairies. In addition, the NIRS Consortium will be demonstrating NIRS testing on forage and feed samples at the Dairy Forage Seminar Stage area.

NIRS is a rapid-analysis option for forage samples that allows producers and nutritionists quick turn-around on results and allows for quick adjustment of feeding components for dairy rations. The NIRS Consortium is an association of commercial laboratories, universities, government units, plant researchers, and NIRS instrument manufacturers. The consortium’s scope is to work in synergy to develop innovations as well as unity for the use of NIRS. The consortium looks to collaborate with the agricultural industry to advance NIRS knowledge and performance.