COURSE OUTLINE

Class meets from 1.55 to 2.45 pm on Mon and Wed in room 156, and from 12.50 to 1.45 pm on Thursday in room 155.

Week	Topic	Date
1	Introduction, course objectives	Jan 7
1	The importance of forages	9
2	Representative sampling	14
2	Definition and indices of forage quality	16
3	No class – Martin Luther King day	21
3	Proximate analysis	23
4	Structural carbohydrate methods	28
4	In vivo digestibility methods	30
5	In vivo digestibility methods	Feb 4
5	In vitro digestibility methods	6
6	In situ degradability methods	11
6	Fermentation gas production methods	13
7	Estimating the rate of passage	18
7	Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy	20
8		25
8	Mid Semester Exam	27
9	Estimating microbial protein synthesis	March 3
9	Non-structural carbohydrate methods	5
10	Spring break	10
10	Spring break	12
11	Quantifying rumen function	17
11	Estimating intake	19
11	Debate 1	20
12	Estimating intake	24
12	Improving forage quality	26
12	Antinutritive factors in feeds	27
13	General problems of feed analysis	31
13	Prediction of nutritive value & accuracy versus precision	April 2
13	Debate 2	3
14	Associative effects of feeds	7
14	Associative effects of feeds	9
14	Silage fermentation and conservation	10
15	Interpreting silage analysis reports	14
15	Particular problems with silage analyses	16
	Review	23
	Reading week	24-28
	Final Exam	May 1

Note: The Final Exam is not comprehensive. It will only cover concepts taught in the second half

of the semester.