“Gas and brakes.” Have you ever imagined, as you are feeding forage to your dairy cattle, that you are pressing a “gas pedal” or a “brake pedal”? Kurt Cotanch, “the lab guy” at the Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, likes to metaphorically compare the fast pool of fermentable fiber to the gas pedal, speeding up passage through the rumen, and the pool of slow and indigestible fiber as the brakes.”
About the Author: Ian Shivas
Ian Shivas hails from Ontario, Canada, where he received his in B.Sc. (Agr) degree in Animal Sciences at University of Guelph in Ontario. He joined Renaissance Nutrition in 1999.
Ian has the privilege to formulate diets for University of Delaware Research Dairy and deliver guest lectures to the nutrition students. He is a Certified Cow Signals Trainer and has put on more than 20 Cow Signals and Feeding Signals workshops for Renaissance training.