Feed, Forage & Ration Formulation
Feed & Forage: For Farmers
What Feed & Forage changes for the person actually doing the work.
For the person running the business, the test of any farm software is whether it removes work or adds it. Feed is the dominant variable cost in every livestock enterprise, and rations are frequently formulated against book values rather than the analysed forage in the clamp. This module holds forage analyses, formulates rations against them, tracks purchased feed contracts and intake, and reconciles the ration fed with the performance achieved.
In their words
What the job actually looks like
These are not marketing personas. Each one is a distinct job with a distinct constraint, and the module is designed so that solving one does not create work for the others.
Dairy farmer
Total mixed ration
Needs the ration reformulated when the clamp changes.
- Analyse every forage source
- Set the performance target and requirement
- Formulate the ration at least cost
- Generate the load sheet
Beef finisher
Intensive finishing
Needs least-cost formulation against a moving feed market.
- Set the performance target and requirement
- Formulate the ration at least cost
- Generate the load sheet
- Feed out and record
Feed adviser
Nutrition consultancy
Needs client forage analyses and intake data in one place.
- Formulate the ration at least cost
- Generate the load sheet
- Feed out and record
- Monitor intake and refusals
End to end
How Feed & Forage runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Analyse every forage source
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Set the performance target and requirement
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Formulate the ration at least cost
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Generate the load sheet
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Feed out and record
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Monitor intake and refusals
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Reconcile stock and project run-out
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Review performance against the ration fed
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Capabilities
What Feed & Forage does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Forage analysis record by clamp, bale batch and cut
- Ration formulation against analysed forage rather than book values
- Least-cost formulation with nutrient constraint setting
Operate and monitor
- Dry matter intake prediction and monitoring
- Purchased feed contract management with volume, price and delivery
- Straights and blend comparison on cost per unit of energy and protein
Comply and evidence
- Mineral and trace element supplementation planning
- Feed stock forecasting with run-out date projection
- Mixer wagon load sheet generation and feed-out recording
Analyse and improve
- Feed refusal and wastage tracking
- Feed cost per litre, per kilogram of gain or per egg
- Forage stock reconciliation against the grassland module
Traceability
The chain behind one batch
Livestock traceability is statutory, the reporting window is short, and it runs through a different national system in each nation. The record is assembled as the animal moves rather than reconstructed at audit.
BATCH-B754CD
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Born on holding
- Who
- Holding of birth
- Evidence
- Ear tag applied and registered
- Held in
- British Cattle Movement Service
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Health intervention
- Who
- Veterinary practice
- Evidence
- Medicine record with withdrawal period
- Held in
- Medicine book
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Moved
- Who
- Haulier
- Evidence
- Statutory movement report within the reporting window
- Held in
- British Cattle Movement Service
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Received
- Who
- Destination holding
- Evidence
- Arrival recorded, standstill applied
- Held in
- Holding register
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Slaughtered
- Who
- Approved abattoir
- Evidence
- Kill sheet, classification and food chain information
- Held in
- FSA
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Sold
- Who
- Buyer
- Evidence
- Batch linked to the carcase and the holding of origin
- Held in
- Platform record
Take the record with you
Worked example
How a business like yours would use Feed & Forage
The problem: Needs the ration reformulated when the clamp changes.
What they do
- Analyse every forage source
- Set the performance target and requirement
- Formulate the ration at least cost
- Generate the load sheet
What changes
- Feed cost per unit of output
- Dry matter intake achieved
- Forage in the diet percentage
This is an illustrative worked example built from the module design, not a customer reference. Named case studies are published only with the business's written consent.
What we are hearing
The problems people describe to us
These are composite statements drawn from user research conversations, not attributed customer quotes. We publish named references only with written consent.
I am not short of software. I am short of one place where the same field means the same thing in all of it.
The scheme closed on a Tuesday evening. I had the application half built. Nobody told me the budget was nearly gone.
We farm on both sides of the border. Everything takes twice as long and I still cannot see the whole position on one screen.
Audit week costs me three days. Every single record they ask for is already written down somewhere on this farm.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Feed cost per unit of output
- 02Dry matter intake achieved
- 03Forage in the diet percentage
- 04Feed wastage percentage
- 05Days of feed stock remaining
Free tool
Run the numbers for your own holding
Enter your figures and get an answer you can act on, with the method shown so you can check it. Save the result to your account or take it away as a PDF.