NASCalf Welcome
Hello and Welcome! My name is Dr. Jim Quigley, author of Calf Notes.com and Managing Director of Calf Notes Consulting. Welcome to NASCalf, a new educational initiative of the team at Calf Notes Consulting.
The 2021 Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle publication from the National Academies of Science, Education, and Medicine – or NASEM – was a watershed moment in dairy cattle nutrition. The NASEM Committee reviewed nearly 20 years of research to produce updated nutrient requirements for all classes of dairy cattle. The improvements from the 2001 NRC publication were profound.
The updated requirements for young dairy calves represented a new approach to calculating calf nutrient requirements and supply and the “calf model” was a huge step forward in our understanding of calf development. The team at Calf Notes Consulting recognized that there were some more complete ways to present the NASEM model to the user, and to provide a vehicle for researchers to challenge some of the NASEM equations used in the calf model. So, we developed NASCalf – which is an extension of the NASEM calf model with improved reporting and a means to modify some of the model’s equations. It’s also quite similar in concept and design to the CalfSim model from the University of Vermont, which provides similar information to NASCalf, but in a different manner.
We hope you enjoy NASCalf. The program is downloaded and run from your desktop and comes with its typical feed composition, diagnostic tools, and a reporting capability. Importantly, the program’s knowledge base will help you understand the value of assumptions made in the model. Of course, if you have comments or suggestions, the Forum page provides a way to provide feedback. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the program.