Several trials have now shown that NIS in the diet will increase total dry matter intake. Furthermore, it will increase dry matter intake of forage. The associated increased levels of digestible fibre intake reduce the acidic peaks in the rumen. In turn, the more effective rumen function will lead to an improvement in economic returns.

The main variation in a housed dairy cow diet comes from variations in the conserved forage. Introducing a completely stable forage dilutes this variation. A reduction in the variation of a diet allows the nutritionist to more accurately predict rumen function.

Some forages (especially chopped straw) are difficult to mix thoroughly in a feeder wagon. NIS comes in a good quality pellet and so therefore it is much easier to mix into a consistent TMR.

With some forages (especially chopped straw), it is extremely difficult to prevent sorting. NIS is produced as a high quality pellet so it is almost impossible for a cow to differentiate between a pellet of NIS or a pellet of compound. Any reduction in sorting allows the nutritionist to more accurately predict the diet that the cow actually eats.