The Lebnara Feed Ration Calculator: The Cheapest Balanced Ration for Your Cows

What does the calculator work out?

The calculator works out 18 nutritional requirements for each cow with simplified equations from the NRC 2001 dairy reference, then compares them with what the ration supplies.

Energy needed per kilo of milk = 0.0929 × fat % + 0.0547 × protein % + 0.192. A cow giving milk at 3.6% fat needs 0.70 Mcal per kilo of milk above maintenance.

Step 1: The cow's data

Choose a ready breed (Holstein, cross, local/Shami) or enter the weight, daily yield, milk fat and protein percentages and the lactation stage. Turn on "Heat stress" in summer if the shed temperature exceeds 28 degrees.

Step 2: The ingredients you have (67 items)

Choose every ingredient you can buy or own on the farm; they do not all have to enter the ration. The calculator picks the cheapest and most suitable among them. An ingredient not in the list? Add it by name and enter its analysis.

• Roughages: wheat, barley and lentil straw, alfalfa, clover, vetch and oat hay, Rhodes grass, fresh alfalfa and clover, forage corn, hydroponic barley, corn and sorghum silage.
• Grains: barley, yellow corn and flaked corn, wheat, white corn, oats, millet, broken rice, dry bread.
• Processing by-products: wheat and rice bran, beet pulp, soy hulls, corn gluten feed, DDGS, molasses, citrus and tomato pulp, olive cake, dates and date pits, brewers grain.
• Protein: soybean meal 44% and 48%, roasted soy, cottonseed meal and cottonseed, sunflower, canola, linseed, sesame, peanut, corn gluten meal 60%, faba beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, bitter vetch, urea.
• Fats, minerals and additives: bypass fat, oil, calcium carbonate, DCP, MCP, salt, bicarbonate, magnesium oxide, premix, toxin binder, yeast.

Step 3: Prices, limits and analysis

Enter the price per tonne of each ingredient as you buy it and in your currency. From "Details" you set the minimum and maximum daily amount, and edit the analysis to match a lab or the supplier's label. Each ingredient has a safe upper limit: urea 150 grams, cottonseed 2.5 kg, dry bread 3 kg.

Step 4: Salts, minerals and additives

Their cost is small, but a shortage causes milk fever, poor fertility and retained placenta. The calculator sets the amount of calcium carbonate, phosphate, salt and premix automatically, and additives such as toxin binder and yeast enter at a fixed amount you set.

Steps 5 and 6: Milk price and the result

Enter the price per kilo of milk and the number of cows, then the calculator works out the cheapest ration. The amount and cost of each ingredient appear, with 18 indicators in clear colours: green suitable, orange short, blue excess. If your ingredients are not enough, it shows the maximum yield possible with them, the reason for the shortage and what to add.

Costs, profit and the formula for a tonne of concentrate

The calculator works out the cost per cow per day, the feed cost per kilo of milk, feed as a share of the milk price, and the profit over feed cost per cow and for the herd monthly. It also gives you the formula for a tonne of concentrate ready for the mill.

How does the calculator choose the cheapest ration?

It uses Linear Programming, the same method as the large feed mills. The goal is the lowest daily cost, provided energy, protein, minerals and vitamins are covered, fibre, roughage and fat stay within safe limits, and each ingredient's minimum and maximum are respected.

A practical example: two cheap ingredients saved $413 a month

A crossbred cow weighing 550 kg produces 22 kg of milk at 3.6% fat, the milk price is $0.45 and the herd is 20 cows. Prices are illustrative.

Tips before relying on the result

• Analyse your main roughage once a season and enter the results, since the real analysis can differ 30% from tables.
• Change the ration gradually over 7 to 10 days so the rumen microbes adapt.
• Watch manure, rumination, body condition and daily yield. If the cow disagrees with the numbers, believe the cow.
• Update prices monthly in volatile markets.

How to try it?

The demo is open to everyone with no sign-up and shows the steps and results in full. The 14-day free period starts automatically when you register your company: prepare your ration with your real data, and the result appears as soon as you subscribe without re-entering anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is the calculator suitable for dry cows?

Yes. Choose "dry" as the lactation stage, and the calculator works out only maintenance and pregnancy needs and raises the vitamin E requirement.

Can I add a feed ingredient that is not in the list?

Yes. Add it by name and type, then enter its analysis from the details in the prices step.

Does the calculator replace a nutritionist?

No. It is a decision tool that shortens the calculations and compares rations, but herd monitoring, feed analysis and a specialist's experience remain necessary.