As part of our commitment to education, AMTS has an Academic Initiative which exposes students to and teaches students ration formulation using commercially available and fully functional ration formulation software. Our program is used globally and we work with universities and teaching institutions around the world. The following article was written by Stefania Pasinato and Serena Bracco, both students in animal science at the University of Turino have been using AMTS.Farm in their studies. They wrote the following piece:
ACCADEMIC USE OF AMTS IN THE NETHERLANDS
We are two students of the Faculty of Animal Sciences of the University of Turin, in Italy. We spent our last year of University in the Netherlands, attending a Master in International Dairy Management. During this year we did an internship focused on the nutrition of dairy cattle, in which we had the opportunity to use AMTS. In particular, we organized the transition from the Dutch rationing system to the CNCPS model.
Our experience with AMTS began with a training course with the AMTS team, including theoretical and practical training.
During the following months, the AMTS Team provided us continuous training support on the use of the program and the functioning of the biological model CNCPS. Thanks to the bibliography suggested on the AMTS website, we studied the Cornell model using also the scientific papers on the development of the Cornell model. Thanks to the support provided by the AMTS Team, as well as the participation in the educational webinars organized by AMTS, we implemented our knowledge on the biology and physiology of dairy cattle related to animal nutrition.
We have improved the knowledge of animal feed-stuffs and their use by the animal: all this allowed us to optimize the formulation of feed rations, better meeting the needs of the animals and the use of nutrients. All this has resulted in an increase in production performance and a reduction in the environmental impact of livestock farms.
We have also worked on the characterization of grass silage, which is the basis of the feed rations of Dutch farms, performing sampling and laboratory analysis on forages.
We would like to thank the AMTS team first of all for giving us the academic license during these months and for the continuous support they have provided which allowed us to increase our knowledge on dairy cattle nutrition and a better preparation for our working future as nutritionist.
Stefania Pasinato and Serena Bracco
We are thankful to have the opportunity to help aspiring nutritionists gain greater understanding of beef and dairy ration formulation software and the biological principles of the CNCPS nutritional model though our Academic Initiative. If you are an educator, teaching ruminant nutrition, interested in learning more about the Academic Initiative, contact Mariann through support.