Over the past several months we have analysed a number of dairy samples for fecal starch either in combination with a TMR to determine digestibility, or on it’s own for a fecal starch determination. Dr Jim Ferguson (University of Pennsylvania) estimates that 5% fecal starch is considered adequate, but 2-3% is optimal. As you can see in the summary of 70 samples below there are plenty of samples that fall into all three categories (optimal, adequate & inadequate). The fecal starch results mimic the CSPS samples we did in the fall (click here to see those results), which makes sense given that CSPS and fecal starch are inversely related. If you have a lower CSPS you tend to have a higher fecal starch value and if you have a higher CSPS you tend to have a lower fecal starch.
If you are interested in taking fecal samples click here for sampling instructions, happy sampling!