Prediction of total intake of dry matter and net energy in a lactation

Daily records on DM intake, net energy intake, and milk yield from 191 Holstein cows in six herds were used to study the differences in accuracy and precision among different methods of estimating total DM intake during a lactation. In using cumulative measures of intake from partial lactations to predict total intake, accuracy reached 85% at 100 d postpartum. Measurements of intake taken around midlactation gave better predictions of total intake than those taken during other periods of lactation. Methods were evaluated for estimating total feed intake during a lactation based on data collected intermittently and separated by either equal or unequal intervals throughout the lactation. The average percentage of bias across all sampling schemes was 6% or less of actual intake. Six of the seven sampling schemes using only 10 d of intake information throughout the lactation had correlations with actual intake of .97 or higher. For equally spaced methods, both accuracy and precision of estimation increased with increased frequency of sampling. For unequally spaced methods, accuracy increased with sampling frequency after 150 d in milk. Total milk production was used to predict feed intake during a lactation. Milk yield alone accounted for 37 and 33% of the variation of total intake using actual and estimated yields, respectively.