MIS SUPPORT FOR PASTURE AND NUTRITION MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY FARMS IN TROPICAL COUNTRIES

The Veterinary Automated Management and Production Control Program (VA MPP) dairy software package, developed in The Netherlands, was adapted to Latin American conditions. The adaptation included the development of a new pasture and nutrition module. This module generates basic nu trition parameters for cows in lactation, for nonlactating cattle and at herd level. The approach of the nutritional calculations differs fr om the approaches of western countries in that the energy intake from pasture is calculated using the reverse method which subtracts the ene rgy supplied as concentrates from the calculated energy requirements. To estimate energy requirements, maximum use is made of routinely coll ected data such as animal inventory, milk production, body weights and growth data. In addition, among few other data, the amounts of suppli ed concentrates art required. The reports generated include: the requi rements and sources of energy (pastures versus supplements) to the die t; the utilization of pastures; an analysis of the daily diet of lacta ting cows; costs of supplementation; and the margin over feed costs. T he module allows the user to evaluate and improve pasture and nutritio n management. Moreover, it facilitates applied research on these topic s.