Corn silage is an excellent forage. In this study, 141 silages ensiled in laboratory silo were prepared by cutting four varieties of whole crop maize harvested from the milk-ripe to the full-ripe stage. The conventional partial least squares regression (PLSR) method, which uses the total wavelength information of the target, and the iterative stepwise elimination PLSR (ISE-PLSR), which eliminates wavelength information that does not contribute to target component estimation or selectively includes useful wavelength information, were employed, along with near-infrared spectra measurement in the wet uncrushed state after opening. A calibration curve was constructed for the easy and rapid evaluation of feed components and fermentation quality, and the estimation accuracies of both methods were compared. Based on the findings from the verification experiment, the calibration curve achieved greater accuracy using the ISE-PLSR method than by using the PLSR method for all items. Further evaluation is necessary to present a versatile calibration curve; however, the various possibilities for the rapid evaluation of pH, DM, butyric acid, valeric acid content, and V-SCORE were presented with significant accuracy.

To clarify the effects of grazing on green herbage mass in Zoysia-dominated grassland, seasonal changes of green herbage mass over 15 years were related to variation in grazing practices. Several factors influencing green herbage mass during grazing periods were analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model. The results of this long-term study showed that the effect of grazing on green herbage mass varied with grazing procedures annually and with grazing history. The linear mixed-effects model determined quantitatively the effect of each factor on green herbage mass. With less than 1200 kg BW ha^-1 of grazing pressure, green herbage mass decreased with increasing grazing pressure; it was negatively affected by plant diversity and season and positively affected by green herbage mass at the start of the grazing period. With more than 1200 kg BW ha^-1 of grazing pressure, green herbage mass remained low regardless of grazing pressure; it was negatively affected by season and positively affected by green herbage mass at the start of the grazing period.

A new Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) early cultivar ‘Quattro-TK5’ was recently bred at the Tohoku Agricultural Research Center, NARO. ‘Quattro-TK5’ showed higher yields than ‘Waseaoba’ in snow-covered areas along the Pacific Ocean. However, it is not clear whether ‘Quattro-TK5’ returns higher yields than ‘Waseaoba’ in snow-covered areas along the Sea of Japan, because the quality and quantity of snow vary between the Sea of Japan side and Pacific sides. In this research, we investigated the yield performance of ‘Quattro-TK5’ in areas along the Sea of Japan. ‘Quattro-TK5’ showed higher yields than ‘Waseaoba’ in areas with long durations of snow cover-the prefectures Yamagata, Niigata, and Iwate. In Akita, Toyama, and Ishikawa prefectures, where snow cover duration is not as long, ‘Quattro-TK5’ showed as much yield as ‘Waseaoba’. ‘Quattro-TK5’ is expected to grow in areas with up to 80 days of continuous snow cover.

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for automatically measuring the weight of grazing cattle by incorporating a scale system with Electric Identification (EID) tags. The scale system was installed in front of a water trough in a pasture, and EID tags were placed put on the neck belt of each grazing cattle. When cattle voluntarily visited the weight-measuring system to drink water, the system automatically measured and recorded their individual weight. Weight was recorded an average of 2.1 times per day per cattle. The average difference in weight measurements between those measured manually and those measured using the automated system was 4.5 kg. Weight changes during growth showed similar tendencies between both methods. These results indicate that the automated measuring method is a useful and laborsaving technique for recording the weight of grazing cattle.