Eicher et al. (1999) recommended standardizing the
time after feeding for sample collection and suggested
4 to 5 h after the beginning of feeding as a proper
sampling time for testing for metabolic disorders. Although
plausible, this hypothesis was not tested. On
the contrary, the time before the morning feeding has
been described as being the most useful to test cows
in early lactation for parameters of NEB (Wylie et al.,
2008). In the latter study, however, only primiparous
cows were used and they were fed only once daily. The
scope of our study was to investigate diurnal effects
in multiparous cows under conditions of a continuous
TMR feeding.