Livestock Feed Ration Calculator

The Clemson Feed Ration Calculator determines the nutritional analysis of a livestock feed mix and turns that mix into a practical mix sheet. It is built for producers, animal nutritionists, consultants, Extension agents and specialists, veterinarians, and agriculture teachers who need to know what a particular ration actually delivers before it is mixed and fed. It is published by Clemson Cooperative Extension and the Clemson University Center for Agricultural Technology, and it replaces the Clemson Feed Ration Calculator previously hosted on the Clemson Precision Agriculture site.

What it calculates

Search the maintained feed list — more than 550 nominal feed ingredients — or add a custom feed of your own. Selecting an ingredient loads its default nutrient and energy composition, and every one of those values can be edited to match a laboratory analysis of the feed you actually have on hand. Add as many feedstuffs as the ration needs; the legacy calculator was limited to eight.

Enter ingredient amounts as relative as-fed proportions and select Calculate. The tool reports the dry-matter nutrient composition of the ration as a whole, alongside each ingredient’s share of it. Add a batch weight and those proportions scale into a mix sheet: how much of each ingredient goes into one batch at the size you actually mix. Results can be printed or saved as a PDF, and the tool works in either Standard or Metric units.

Reading the results

Nutrient values are reported on a dry basis: dry matter, crude protein, total digestible nutrients, crude fiber, fat, calcium, and phosphorus. The three net energy values — NEm for maintenance, NEg for gain, and NEl for lactation — are reported in megacalories per hundredweight, or megacalories per 100 kilograms when Metric units are selected.

Where the feed values come from

Default compositions are drawn from published feed composition tables, cited in full under References, and each feedstuff records the source its values came from. A value you edit yourself is treated as your own laboratory analysis. Feed nutrient content varies with cutting, storage, and season, so use a current analysis whenever a decision depends on a particular ingredient.

What it does not do

This calculator analyzes a ration you specify. It does not judge whether that ration meets an animal’s nutrient requirements, and it does not build a least-cost ration from a set of requirements — the Livestock Feed Ration Optimizer does that. Results support ration analysis and mix-sheet planning; they do not replace animal-specific feeding, health, performance, or economic guidance.