Feed Ration Planner

Need:

• Grazing monitoring & Feed transition from grazing to housing

Aim:

• Assessing the grazing and feed requirements of animals at different points throughout the year.

Description:

AHDB – Feed (grass and supplementation) budget planner: Helps farmers forecast how much grass is going to be available at certain times of the year and helps to plan when supplementation may be required.

How to implement:

• The planner is free to download from the AHDB website. Once downloaded, begin by filling in the initial pasture cover value (in kg DM/ha) based on compressed sward heights. Then fill in the details associated with the grazing area (ha), number of grazing days each month, rate of grass growth (kg DM/ha/day) and the predicted utilisation of grass (%). Using the information provided, the planner calculates the difference between grass growth and animal intake requirements.There is then an option to add additional data regarding the use of any supplement feeds (hay, silage & concentrates) each month.  Different types of animals can be allocated to the pastures (Ewes, Lambs (once they are weaned) and Growing Cattle). The planner provides graphs showing pasture cover throughout the year and the relationship between supply and demand throughout the year, based on the information provided.There is also a planner for those using rotational grazing and additional information as to the intake requirements of the different animals (and their stages) provided.

Expected benefits:

• Allows farmers to plan how they are going to manage and utilise their grazing (and supplementary feed stocks) based on the demands of their animals throughout the year.
• Better grass utilisation.
• The intake requirements of the animals can be better met.

Prerequisites and/or limits:

• Set up costs ~ Nothing (Free)
• Subscription required: No

The tool is free but requires regular measurements using a plate meter/sward stick to collect pasture data.

Mainly useful for improved and/or semi-improved grazing. Might not be so practical for extensive hill ground grazing.

Data collected can be used with some mobile phone apps and farm management software (some of these may involve a subscription fee).

More sophisticated ration software are available, which come at a cost, but allow more detailed rations to be set-up for various different classes of animal (pregnant ewes, finishing lambs, etc.).

e.g. DietCheck for Sheep 

https://dietcheck.co.uk/software/dietcheck-for-sheep.

Small Ruminant Nutrition System

(Model: SRNS (nutritionmodels.com)