Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Glossary -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Overall model description -- 3. Animal input characteristics -- 4. Feed fraction characteristics -- 5. Feed analyses and digestion methods -- 6. Feed calculations in NorFor -- 7. Digestion and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract -- 8. Energy and metabolizable protein supply -- 9. Animal requirements and recommendations -- 10. Prediction of voluntary feed intake -- 11. Chewing index system for predicting physical structure of the diet -- 12. Prediction of milk yield, weight gain and utilization of N, P and K -- 13. Standard feed value -- 14. System evaluation -- 15. The NorFor IT system, ration formulating and optimization -- Keyword index.

NorFor is a semi-mechanistic feed evaluation system for cattle, which is used by advisors in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This book describes in detail the system and it covers five main sections. The first is concerned with information on feed characteristics, feed analysis and feed digestion methods. The second section describes the digestion and metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract and the supply and requirement of energy and metabolizable amino acids. The third section considers the prediction of feed intake and physical structure of the diet. The fourth section focuses on model evaluation and the final section provides information on the IT solutions and feed ration formulation by a non-linear economical optimization procedure. This book will be of significant interest to researchers, students and advisors of cattle nutrition and feed evaluation.