Changes

'''Insufficient long fibre in the diet''': It is essential that the diet contains adequate fibre of 2-5cm in length, as it stimulates rumination and forms the rumen mat, where much fermentation occurs. Insufficient long dietary fibre can therefore be detrimental to rumen health. If sufficient fibre of the wrong length is contained within the ration, rumen function will also be suboptimal rumen function. Fibre that is chopped too short will not stimulate rumination, and fibre greater than 10cm in length can be selectively sorted out of the diet by the cows themselves. Because the difficult of feeding dairy cattle lies in providing sufficient metabolisable energy, there is a tendency for farmers to focus on making highly digestible (and therefore high ME) silage rather than that of good fibre quality; this contributes to a lack of sufficient long fibre in the feed.

'''Insufficient long fibre in the diet''': It is essential that the diet contains adequate fibre of 2-5cm in length, as it stimulates rumination and forms the rumen mat, where much fermentation occurs. Insufficient long dietary fibre can therefore be detrimental to rumen health. If sufficient fibre of the wrong length is contained within the ration, rumen function will also be suboptimal rumen function. Fibre that is chopped too short will not stimulate rumination, and fibre greater than 10cm in length can be selectively sorted out of the diet by the cows themselves. Because the difficult of feeding dairy cattle lies in providing sufficient metabolisable energy, there is a tendency for farmers to focus on making highly digestible (and therefore high ME) silage rather than that of good fibre quality; this contributes to a lack of sufficient long fibre in the feed.

'''Overestimation of forage dry matter content''': The dry matter of forage must be estimated in order to calculate how much of ir should be included in the diet. The cut of for healthy rumen function is a concentrate-to-forage dry matter ration of 60:40; if this is exceeded then SARA can develop. Therefore, if the dry matter of forage is thought to be higher than it actually is, a smaller quantity of the fodder will be included in the diet, tilting the ratio to potentially detrimental proportions.

'''Overestimation of forage dry matter content''': The dry matter of forage must be estimated in order to calculate how much of ir should be included in the diet. The cut of for healthy rumen function is a concentrate-to-forage dry matter ration of 60:40; if this is exceeded then SARA can develop. Therefore, if the dry matter content of forage is overestimated, a relatively smaller quantity of the fodder will be included in the diet, tilting the ratio to potentially detrimental proportions.

'''Overmixing the total mixed ration''':

'''Overmixing the total mixed ration''':