Insight Focus

Ration formulation for livestock enterprises is a skilled balancing act. Each farm has unique needs, shaped by animals and enterprise goals. Meeting buyer demands while ensuring profit adds further complexity.

The Basis of Any Feeding Regime

As discussed in our previous article, Understanding Livestock Nutrition, we know that livestock feed ration formulation depends on various critical factors:

1. The animal’s digestive system – ruminant or monogastric

2. The livestock enterprise – meat, reproduction, milk, eggs, wool, etc.

3. Animal age, stage of productivity cycle, environment, and output objectives

Having assessed the above, the primary concern is that feed provides all the necessary nutrient requirements.

The Need for Bespoke Individuality

Each livestock enterprise has its own individuality for a multitude of reasons:

A. Whether ruminant or monogastric will determine whether the feeding regime is centred around bulky feeds such as forage, or a complete feed based on cereals and oilseeds.

B. Enterprise objectives vary considerably in nutritional needs, from a dairy cow producing milk to a chicken reared on a complete feed needing liveweight gain for meat.

C. Animal breed and productivity cycle, with specific genetic variations, also play a part in ration formulation. For example, some hen breeds may lay specific high-quality eggs, while others may lay for longer, ultimately producing a greater volume of lower-value eggs. Their diets will therefore be tailored accordingly at each stage.

The Need for Expertise

Critical to ration formulation is the expertise to understand these specific animal and enterprise needs. This enables provision of the optimum, cost-effective feed ration that delivers the best output results.

This process requires the precise mixing of various ingredients to achieve:

  • The correct balance of energy and other nutrient requirements
  • A ration that is palatable and digestible for the individual livestock
  • The optimum level of ‘Voluntary Food Intake’

The success of the ration lies in the fine balance of all three areas to maximise enterprise output goals.

Palatability and the correct level of voluntary food intake are critical to ensuring animals consume enough of the right feed. Maintaining this balance also prevents over-eating, which is vital to avoid:

  • Cost implications and loss of margin from extra feed consumed
  • Output implications, such as excess fat on carcasses or reduced milk quality

Choosing Between Lowest-Cost Rations and Fixed Recipes

A key question for each enterprise is whether to feed the lowest-cost ration or a specified feed recipe containing predetermined ingredients.

Lowest Cost Ration

Here, feed meets a minimum nutrient specification. The aim is to achieve the desired enterprise output with the lowest cost inputs.

This could be due to a desire to utilise forage, grains, or oilseeds grown on the farm. Alternatively, it may involve using the cheapest available ingredients, depending on prevailing market prices, to produce a ration that meets specifications at the lowest possible cost.

Forage harvester cutting green crop for silage

The Recipe

This may be a recipe determined by the market for which the product is intended, or one designed by a mixed farmer using arable crop rotations to provide on-farm milled rations.

In either case, ingredients will be more predetermined. Although not always the most cost-effective, they may meet other important criteria.

For example, a buyer may wish to reduce the carbon footprint of the product they purchase, or there may be a requirement for certain ingredients to deliver defined product characteristics such as meat quality or egg yolk colour.

The Ultimate Skill

The ultimate skill of those designing feed rations for farm livestock enterprises is to consider a wide range of variable factors and achieve the most cost-effective ration for the individuality of the enterprise, while enhancing outputs and profitability.

It is a task full of juggling, pitfalls, and complications—unquestionably not for the inexperienced or faint-hearted.