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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2017
Energy evaluation systems translate animals’ requirements for net energy (NE) into feed metabolisable energy requirements (MER). The Feed into Milk (FiM) project resulted in a new system for predicting the MER of dairy cows (Thomas, 2004). In contrast to AFRC (1993), the FiM system is (almost) independent of feed quality, like the system proposed in 1994 by Tolkamp & Ketelaars (T&K). To translate NE requirements into MER, FiM requires nine parameters, while for all cattle that are fed (near) ad libitum T&K require only one. Here we analyse how these parameters contribute to the differences in prediction of daily MER between the two systems and what the causes of these differences are.