This past week we held the first of our Winter Meetings focusing on the new CNCPS 6.5 biology on a cold day in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Our partners at this meeting were DairyLand Labs and Adisseo. A group of nutritionists and industry professional attended the half-day session; they came armed with questions.
Our team was very pleased with how the training came together. We styled our presentation to allow for interaction with our partner lab (Dairyland) and amino acid company (Adisseo) as well as frequent questions from attendees. Our goal was to find out and answer concerns as well as clear up areas of confusion about the yet to be released update to the CNCPS.
Most of the new biology changes are targeted at characterization of feeds into the model. Since the last update to the model in 2012, research has focused on defining and refining the analyses used by labs and returned to nutritionist, mostly in the areas of NDF digestibility and rates and nitrogen availability and amino acid profiles. To implement the improved feed information, labs have had to learn and change major analysis methods. As we expected, there is still confusion around what these changes mean to on farm application. We, with the help of several amino acid companies and feed analysis laboratories, are helping explain the adjustments and show what that looks like in diets.
Important for the users of the CNCPS model to understand is that Cornell has not yet released the 6.5 update to the biology. Release has been “imminent” since the fall Cornell Nutrition Conference. Due to the nature of the update—feed libraries requiring updates being the primary cause—once diets are changed over to the new biology they cannot move backwards. Due to this, awareness of the need for the model to work the first time has resulted in a very conservative and cautious model release.
In the Guelph meeting, we learned that there is confusion regarding whether the new biology has been released. Importantly—NO, it has not. We and the companies who are helping with this series are committed to helping the transition move as smoothly as possible. Our focus in these meeting is only on the biology. The sessions are open to anyone who wants to know what the biology updates mean—whether they use our platform or not.
Guelph was only the beginning. This week we will be in Pennsylvania; at the end of the month, California. In February, we will hold meetings in Wisconsin and Arizona; March has Nevada, Minnesota, and Michigan on the calendar. Check our Facebook page and Website for details and latest updates.