Feed Intake of Growing Dairy Heifers Raised under Tropical Conditions: A Model Evaluation Using Meta-Analysis.

Several models for predicting dry matter intake (DMI) of replacement dairy heifers have been developed; however, only a few have been evaluated using data from heifers of different breeds raised under tropical conditions. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the DMI equations for dairy heifers managed under tropical conditions. A total of 230 treatment means from 61 studies using dairy heifers ( = 1513 heifers, average body weight = 246 kg) were used.