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Shake the bunk, not the memory

The particle box is only honest if the sample is the diet the cow can reach.

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Knowledge level in this topic: Intermediate. Barn-side working knowledge in this topic: checks, pairing, and what to do next.

3 min read · 2026-09-07

Shake the bunk, not the memory

The formulated sheet and a mixer-wagon grab are the intended diet. The cow's diet is what lands on the bunk after delivery, segregation, and sorting.

Sample across the feed face once the pile has settled — beginning, middle, and end — and take a full vertical cross-section down to the floor, not a skim off the pretty top.

Write moisture and mixer time on the bag. Shake fresh feed and then the refusals the same way with the Penn State Particle Separator.

One scoop from a sorted corner lies.

Read peNDF risk from the top-three screens (≥19, 8, and 4 mm) against the pan guideline — not from an empty top sieve alone.

Dominant cows may eat the fines early while later cows get the stems; the refusal map shows that split.

A PSPS number without a bunk map is just a number.

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Refusals read the peNDF story

Shake fresh TMR and the refusal pile with the same particle separator — divergence shows whether formulated peNDF actually reached the cow.

Knowledge level in this topic: Intermediate. Barn-side working knowledge in this topic: checks, pairing, and what to do next.Sister note · 3 min

Home plate: Rumen · Physically effective fiber · The particle separator

  1. The particle separatorOn-farm toolPlaced here
  2. Overmixing Steals the MatYour ration might look perfect on paper, but if the mixer grinds your forage too fine, you lose the physically effective fiber required to build a healthy rumen mat.Sister note
  3. Chop length is not peNDFChop length is a harvester setting; peNDF is the fiber structure that actually reaches the rumen after moisture, processing, mixing, and sorting.Same sheet
Full networkLinked notes and sheets for this field noteShake the bunk, not the memory · Field noteShake the bunk, not the memoryThe particle separator · FocusThe particle separatorChop length is not peNDF · Field noteChop length is not peNDFOvermixing Steals the Mat · Field noteOvermixing Steals the MatRefusals read the peNDF story · Field noteRefusals read the peNDF story

Mark size is the kind. Color is the atlas area.

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  • Field note
  • Rumen

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