Cattle dung testing service (F.NIRS and Faecal Phosphorus)
A dung test predicts diet quality
Dung testing provides a quick, reliable prediction of your herd's diet quality to inform feeding and other management decisions.
• Faecal Near Infrared Reflectance (F.NIRS) diet quality test.
• Faecal Phosphorus analysis is provided by ICP-AES analysis of the dung sample.
How to order your analysis
 | 1- COLLECT THE SAMPLE |  |
Amount needed: 20-40 g (dried).
 | 2-RECORD INFORMATION |
 | 3- SEND |
| Post to: | Gcology Data Services PO Box 1187 Osborne Park DC WA 6916 |
Australian northern grazing system F.NIRS
F.NIRS is a ground-breaking solution to a crucial predicament.
F (Faecal) Near-Infrared Reflectance spectroscopy (F.NIRS) is the application of Near-Infrared spectroscopy to dung (Faeces). NIR is well known in agriculture as a method of characterising feeds in terms of protein, fat or digestibility.
Sampling vegetation to assess the ingested diet of grazing animals is often impractical, especially within the vast grazing landscapes of Australia.
In response to the predicament, David Coates and colleagues calibrated F.NIRS to spectral signatures of dung from cattle-fed known tropical grass-based diets.
Measures provided
In northern Australia, the primary factors that restrict the growth and performance of cattle are energy, protein, and phosphorus.
The F.NIRS predictors developed in northern Australian feeding studies include dietary crude protein%, digestibility (DMD)%, metabolisable energy, and faecal ash%. Ash measurement assists in quality control. Ash consists of inorganic material and will be elevated if dirt contaminates the dung sample.
Feeding studies using cattle and sheep verified that NIRS spectra distinguish tropical grass from other plant species, including forbs, legumes, and woody species. The non-grass % provided in the F.NIRS report indicates whether the animals are browsing plants, including legumes, herbaceous or woody material.
Faecal Phosphorus concentration is measured in a separate wet chemistry test. Faecal P scales linearly with dietary phosphorus and can provide an indicator of P deficiency.
Cooperating companies
