In cattle starches and sugars can ferment quickly in the rumen, causing acidic conditions which damage the papilla lining the rumen wall and kill the bacteria that break down the fibre. This condition is referred to as acidosis. Adding NIS to the diet slows fermentation and enables the rumen to work more efficiently.

NIS compares favourably with other forages such as hay or chopped straw in terms of available energy, impact on DMI, consistency, palatability, alkalinity and buffering effect, and ease of handling and/or storage.

Feeding chopped straw is the most common. However, the problems with chopped straw are well known…

Primary and Secondary signs of Acidosis

The treatment forharvested straw through to the production of pellets

A defined amount of alkali is applied to the ground-up straw in carefully controlled conditions. The alkali reacts with the carbon in the straw and breaks it down to sodium carbonate, a completely harmless salt which is very similar to the baking soda many of us eat every day in bread.