Goat Feed Calculator 17

Goat Feed Calculator

Hello everyone!!

Goat feed cost is one of the major recurrent expense in running a goat farm. One should provide optimum quantity of feed to maintain health and good growth in goats. Farmers sometimes tend to overfeed/underfeed goats resulting in economic losses.

Below is the Feed calculator I’m using to get approximate amount of feed to be provided to goats in my farm. Use the table below the calculator, to find dry matter intake (DMI) for your goat and then use the calculator to know how much to feed Dry fodder, Green fodder and Concentrates.

Instructions:

Depending on the stage of your goat find the DMI percentage on the DMI table below. For instance, for a lactating goat DMI is 2.8-4.6%. Insert this value  and body weight into the goat feed calculator to find how much to feed.

DMI table:

Dry matter intake chart

DMI Table: Depending on the stage of your goat find the DMI percentage. For instance, for a lactating goat DMI is 2.8-4.6%. Insert this value  and body weight into the goat feed calculator to find how much to feed.

If you have any comments/corrections/suggestions regarding this calculator, post it in comments section.

Other links: Click here to learn more about the formulating a concentrate feed ration

 

Glossary:

Dry Matter (DM): Dry matter represents everything contained in a feed sample except water; this includes protein, fiber, fat, minerals, etc. In practice, it is the total weight of feed minus the weight of water in the feed, expressed as a percentage. It is determined by drying the feed sample in an oven until the sample reaches a stable weight. For example sorghum or co4 grass contains 18% DM, rest is water.

Dry Matter Intake (DMI):Dry matter intake is the amount of feed a goat consumes per day on a moisture-free basis.

 

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17 thoughts on “Goat Feed Calculator”

  • Reply ↓
    Mullai Farms

    Dear Vani Farms,

    You are doing an outstanding job in sharing best practices, I have been following your posts for quite sometime. I am planning to set up a goat farm in Hyderabad and have done some research on that. Your website is very helpful.

    Thanks
    Mullai Farms.

  • Reply ↓
    Sriram

    Thanks for updating and providing good information. I was wondering about Boer goats. I’m not able to see any boer goats coming for meat purposes. Why is that?

    • Reply ↓
      Dr.Kumar Post author

      Thank you Sriram. That’s a good question. The reason Boer goats are not found in meat market, is just because there is a huge demand among farms to develop their stock by cross breeding with Boer goats. Right now, you can find some Boer crosses in the meat market. Once the demand for the Boer goat decreases among breeders/start up farms, there will be supply of boer goats for meat purposes.Till then, the price for Pure Boer goats will be high and it will be tough to see them in meat markets.

      • Reply ↓
        Anonymous

        i wanna start a goat farm for meat purpose purely local market butchers….what breed should i select??? i asked local butchers they r asking local country goat …..so i planned to cross jamunapari with local goat is that good idea???

  • Reply ↓
    John

    recently i did research and found that local butchers r not prefering boer cross goat for slaughtering due to lack of taste ,huge size, softness.most of them who sell boer r for breeding purpose only….its almost a decade being boer introduced but still its used for breeding only….for immediate meat purpose what breed should i select ???is jamunapari n local country goat a good choice???

  • Reply ↓
    Emerson

    feeding only green fodder and concentrates without dry fodder will not cause diarrhea kind of problems. Doesn’t goat need dry fodder as per your calculator?
    Do you have any feed ration if feed maize hydroponic fodder.
    I am really impressed with the information you have provided. Thanks.

  • Reply ↓
    s.a.ali

    My company want to purchase 200 thalachery goats age 2yrs,weight not less than 30kgs,empty,not pregnant,dissease free,please advise if available & the price.
    please let us know the weight at birth weight gain/day & oblige
    Thnks
    Dr.Ali

    • Reply ↓
      Vani-Farms-India (Admin)

      Only using dry fodder, will not be sufficient to getting all nutrients. Also, providing only green fodder will cause stomach upset and might cause diarrhea.
      Combination of :
      Dry fodder 15.0%
      Green Fodder 62.0%
      Concentrates 23.0%
      will be better

  • Reply ↓
    Vilas Saner

    In this calculator what percentage of moisture is taken in (in dry fodder, green fodder , concentration) Consideration ? because Total DM intake Required(calculated ) And sum of dry fodder+ green fodder+concentration are not getting equal

    • Reply ↓
      Vani-Farms-India (Admin)

      Dear Vilas,
      We are considering a Dry matter percentage of 90%, 25% and 95% for dry fodder, green fodder and concentrates respectively. So, if a goat has a dry matter requirement of 0.75 kg,
      1. Dry fodder with a inclusion rate of 15%: 0.75*15% = 0.1125kg, then multiplied by dry matter percentage = (0.1125*(100/90))= 0.125kg
      2. Green fodder with a inclusion rate of 62%: 0.75*62% = 0.465kg, then multiplied by DM percentage = (0.465*(100/25))= 1.86kg
      3. Concentrates with a inclusion rate of 23%: 0.75*23% = 0.172kg, then multiplied by DM percentage = (0.172*(100/95))= 0.181kg
      Let me know if this helps

  • Reply ↓
    Syed Ahamed

    Daer Vani Farms,

    Can We only Feed Hydroponics Fodder for Goats? With concentrate Feed? As i dont have Land to Grow Green Fodder.
    Looking for you Advise. (Starting up a New Fram) .

    Thanks
    Syed.