Feed industry planning tools.
Estimate production capacity, ingredient requirements, feed mill performance, operating costs, storage needs and financial returns for industrial feed operations — fast, indicative ranges. For a full sourcing benchmark, request quotes.
Start with your decision
Pick the industrial feed question you actually need to answer.
Balance crude protein, ME and $/tonne of finished feed; then translate FCR into cost per kg live weight.
CAPEX, OPEX, ROI, automation and premix planners.
The planning set behind a USD 250,000+ feed project: cost the build, cost the operation, test the payback, size an automation upgrade and price the additive program — then take the numbers into a human-reviewed RFQ.
See these planners applied to anonymized reference feed-mill projects — the numbers, the challenges and the outcomes.
- Greenfield 30 t/h pelleted feed mill — Vietnam30 t/h · 180,000 t/year · 3 shifts
- Capacity upgrade 12 → 25 t/h — Brazil12 t/h existing → 25 t/h · brownfield
- Shrimp and tilapia extrusion line — Ecuador8 t/h extruded · 48,000 t/year
- Batching and automation retrofit — Poland40 t/h · 240,000 t/year
- Premix and concentrate plant — Saudi Arabia3 t/h · 18,000 t/year
Model the mill: bottleneck, cost per tonne, energy, labour, storage and TCO.
Six planning tools for feed-mill projects and running plants. Each one states what it can and cannot do, shows a worked example, and hands the inputs straight into a structured RFQ.
Feed Mill Bottleneck Calculator
A feed mill can only produce at the rate of its slowest stage. Compare the effective capacity of intake, grinding, mixing, pelleting, cooling and packing in tonnes per hour — after applying availability, not nameplate — and the lowest number is the plant's real throughput. Every other stage above that figure is spare capacity you have already paid for. Debottlenecking means raising only the limiting stage, then re-checking, because the constraint usually moves to the next-lowest stage rather than disappearing.
Open calculatorFeed Production Cost Per Ton Calculator
Total cost per tonne is the raw-material cost of the formula plus the conversion cost of running the plant. Ingredients normally account for 70 to 85 percent of the total. Conversion cost — electricity, labour, maintenance, packaging, depreciation and overhead — commonly falls between USD 9 and USD 30 per tonne, driven far more by utilisation than by any single line item, because fixed costs are spread over whatever tonnage the plant actually produces.
Open calculatorFeed Mill Energy Calculator
A pelleted compound feed mill typically consumes roughly 22 to 45 kWh of electricity per tonne, with grinding and pelleting together accounting for over half of it. Mash-only plants run far lower, often 10 to 18 kWh per tonne. Extrusion lines for aquafeed and pet food run much higher — commonly 70 to 170 kWh per tonne — because the extruder and dryer dominate. Thermal energy for conditioning steam is additional and is usually reported separately.
Open calculatorFeed Mill TCO Calculator — Compare Three Suppliers
Compare total cost of ownership, not the quoted price. Fix identical battery limits, then add installed CAPEX to the discounted cost of energy, maintenance, spare parts, labour and downtime over five and ten years. Over a ten-year horizon operating cost frequently exceeds the original equipment cost, so the cheapest proposal is regularly the most expensive plant. Express the result as TCO per tonne to make proposals of different capacities genuinely comparable.
Open calculatorFeed Mill Labour Cost Calculator
Labour cost per tonne is annual fully loaded payroll divided by actual annual production. In highly automated bulk plants in high-wage countries it commonly lands between USD 3 and USD 8 per tonne; in manual, bagged operations in low-wage countries the headcount is far higher but the cost per tonne can be similar, because wages are lower. Automation rarely removes people outright — it usually shifts them from manual dosing and bagging into control-room, quality and maintenance roles.
Open calculatorFeed Mill Raw-Material Storage Days Calculator
Multiply daily raw-material consumption by the number of cover days you want, add safety stock, then divide by bulk density to get the volume the silos must hold. Cover days are a risk decision, not an engineering one: plants next to domestic grain supply commonly hold 7 to 15 days, while import-dependent plants often hold 30 to 60 days because vessel scheduling and port congestion, not consumption, set the exposure.
Open calculatorFeed Mill Capacity Expansion Calculator
Convert both the current and the target rate into annual tonnage using the same operating hours, operating days and utilisation assumption, then subtract. The gap between theoretical and actual output is usually larger than owners expect, which means part of a capacity target can sometimes be met by raising utilisation rather than by buying equipment. The percentage increase this tool returns is the figure that should drive the technical capacity review of every process stage, storage system and utility.
Open calculatorFeed Mill Automation ROI Calculator
An automation upgrade pays back through four measurable lines: labour hours removed from manual batching and record-keeping, raw-material give-away recovered when dosing accuracy improves, downtime avoided through faster changeovers and fault diagnosis, and rework or rejected batches avoided through traceability. Quantify each against annual tonnage and the upgrade cost, and the honest test is simple payback in months — most credible batching and PLC retrofits land between 12 and 36 months at commercial tonnage. Below roughly 15,000 tonnes a year, automation is usually justified by traceability and compliance rather than by cost saving.
Open calculatorFeed Mill Equipment Comparison Calculator
Compare the three process routes on the same capacity and the same operating schedule, across four numbers: indicative equipment investment, specific energy in kWh per tonne, processing cost per tonne excluding raw material, and total cost per tonne once the investment is amortised over the asset life. Mash is the cheapest to install and run but limits product range and feed hygiene. Pelleting adds conditioning, a pellet mill and a cooler at moderate energy. Extrusion adds a preconditioner, extruder, dryer and coater, roughly triples specific energy and is required — not optional — for floating aquafeed, high-fat and fully cooked products. The product specification decides the route; this comparison shows what that decision costs.
Open calculatorFarm Feed Storage Requirement Calculator
Multiply peak daily feed consumption by the number of cover days you want between deliveries, add safety stock for a late truck, then divide by the bulk density of your feed to get the volume the silos or bins must hold. A farm consuming 50 tonnes a day that wants seven days of cover needs roughly 350 tonnes of usable storage before safety stock. Total tonnage is only half the answer: the number of separate compartments matters just as much, because each feed type or production phase in simultaneous use needs its own space.
Open calculatorFarm Feed Waste Cost Scenario Calculator
Multiply annual feed tonnage by feed price to get the annual feed bill, then apply your estimated loss percentage to obtain the indicative annual value at stake. Comparing that against a second, lower loss scenario shows the difference a feeding-infrastructure project would be competing for. That difference is a planning figure only: it is not a measurement of your farm, not a benchmark and not a saving anyone can promise. Losses accumulate at receiving, in storage, during distribution, at dispensing and in feeding practice, and each of those has a different remedy.
Open calculatorBroiler Farm Profit Calculator (per batch, any flock size)
Take the birds placed, subtract mortality to get birds sold, multiply by live weight and sale price per kg for revenue. Then cost the batch: chicks, feed (birds sold × live weight × FCR × feed price, plus feed eaten by birds that died), plus medication, brooding energy, litter, labour and overhead. Profit is revenue minus that total, and the two figures that move it most are feed conversion ratio and feed price — feed is normally 60–70% of a broiler batch cost. Enter your own numbers below; nothing here is a benchmark or a promised return.
Open calculatorSize the tonnage for your species.
Each tool turns flock or herd numbers, conversion and feed price into the tonnage to contract and the cost per kilogram produced. Search below and open the one that matches your species.
8 of 8 calculators
Enterprise-grade tools for feed buyers, formulators & mill operators.
Least-cost blending, FCR economics, mill throughput sizing and CIF landed-cost — the numbers procurement teams need before they issue an RFQ.
Least-Cost Feed Blend Estimator
Blend raw materials by inclusion %, then read weighted crude protein, metabolizable energy and $/tonne of finished feed. Adjust prices to your live market.
| Ingredient | CP % | ME kcal | Incl. % | USD / t |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corn (maize) | 8.5 | 3350 | ||
| Soybean meal 46% | 46 | 2450 | ||
| Wheat | 12 | 3150 | ||
| Sunflower meal 34% | 34 | 2050 | ||
| Fish meal 65% | 65 | 2900 | ||
| Vegetable oil | 0 | 8800 | ||
| Vitamin & mineral premix | 0 | 0 |
Broiler starter target: ~22% CP / 3000 kcal ME. Grower: ~20% / 3100. Layer: ~16.5% / 2750. Use this as a pre-RFQ sanity check before requesting a formal least-cost formulation from FeedMatch.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
FCR & Cost per kg Live Weight
Translate feed price, FCR, chick cost and mortality into cost per kg of live bird and margin per placed chick — the KPI integrators and contract growers actually price against.
A 5-point FCR gain (1.70 → 1.65) at USD 430/t feed saves ~USD 0.052/kg live — meaningful across a 100,000-bird cycle. Optimize with pellet quality (PDI > 92) and phase feeding.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Feed Mill Throughput & CAPEX Sizer
Size a new or expanded feed mill: capacity class, indicative CAPEX, annual output and processing cost per tonne (energy + labor + maintenance). Ideal input for board-level business cases.
Includes intake, hammer mill / roller mill, mixer, pellet press, cooler, bagging and automation. Extruded aqua-feed lines add ~35–50% to CAPEX. Add silos and receiving separately.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Ingredient CIF & Landed Cost
Model the true delivered cost of corn, soybean meal, DDGS, wheat, fish meal or premix — FOB, freight, insurance, duty, VAT, inland trucking, FX spread and LC financing.
Rule of thumb: landed cost is typically 18–35% above FOB depending on Incoterm, port efficiency and duty regime (0% GCC, 5% Saudi, 10–20% East Africa). Use as an RFQ baseline before requesting comparative offers via FeedMatch.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Buying a specific route? See worked landed-cost breakdowns per trade lane — soybean meal Brazil→Egypt, corn Argentina→Nigeria, DCP China→Saudi Arabia — with Incoterm notes, duty lines and the documents each destination requires.
Import Shipping & Storage Cost
Ocean freight + demurrage + warehouse storage + cargo insurance — the true logistics cost stack from load port to mill silo.
Cut demurrage by pre-clearing documents and booking bonded storage before vessel ETA. FeedMatch coordinates freight forwarder + customs broker RFQs alongside the cargo tender.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Container Loading Optimizer
How many 20 ft / 40 ft containers you actually need per shipment, by packaging format — bagged (25 kg / 50 kg), big bags or bulk liner.
50 kg bags fit ~25 t / 20 ft container at 500 bags. Bulk liners save ~4% freight per tonne but require silo-to-container blowing at load port.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Feed Conversion (FCR) Analyzer
Compare your actual FCR to industry benchmarks across broilers, layers, swine, tilapia, salmon and feedlot beef — and price the feed-cost gap between actual and target.
Broiler world-class: 1.45–1.55. Closing 0.10 FCR at USD 430/t typically pays back premium starter feed within 2–3 cycles.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Feed factory CAPEX, financing and energy planning.
Financing Repayment
Most lenders want DSCR ≥ 1.3×. Buyer credit / ECA tenors: 5–10y. Commercial bank: 3–7y.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Solar + Backup Power
Africa / MENA farms typically size 1.2–1.5× daily load. Backup genset stays for continuous ventilation.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Biogas & Manure Revenue
Broiler manure yields ~50–70 m³ biogas / tonne wet. Digestate is a premium organic fertilizer.
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Tender Bid Pricing
Margin covers: USD 284,632. Adjust engineering/contingency higher for donor-funded and government tenders (World Bank, AfDB, IFC, UNGM).
Estimates Only: Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer. This calculator is provided for general informational purposes only. Results are approximate and may contain errors, omissions, or outdated information. They do not constitute legal, financial, engineering, tax, technical, or professional advice. Users are solely responsible for independently verifying all calculations, specifications, prices, regulations, and requirements with qualified professionals before making any decisions. By using this calculator, you acknowledge that the website owners, operators, and affiliates accept no responsibility or liability for any loss, damage, or decisions resulting from its use.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. FeedMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every feed project request is reviewed manually by David / FeedMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Quick unit converters
Reading a spec sheet or delivery note? Convert as-fed to dry matter, inclusion % to kg per tonne, ME between kcal/kg and MJ/kg, or bag counts to tonnes — with the formula shown.
Open feed unit convertersReady-made ration formulas
Prefer a finished recipe? Broiler starter, layer peak and dairy concentrate rations are published as 100 kg and 1 tonne mixing sheets with nutrient summaries and cost per tonne.
Open ration formulasHow these calculators work
Every tool has a documented model: the inputs and where each value comes from (your input, generic reference data, a supplier declaration, a lot certificate, a laboratory result or a regulatory limit), the equation or optimization method, the assumptions, the validation rules, the limitations and the review date. Calculations run in your browser and your figures are never published.
Planning and procurement estimate only. Final formulations, ingredient inclusion, nutrient targets, feed safety, additive use and regulatory compliance must be approved by appropriately qualified professionals and the responsible manufacturer.
Read the calculator methodology and data sourcesTurn your numbers into comparable quotes
Calculator output is indicative. Send the tonnage, specification and destination through the RFQ intake and receive comparative offers from qualified third-party suppliers — supplier-neutral, no obligation.
Request quotesFinancing for USD $250K+ feed projects
Once CAPEX and DSCR are modelled, review buyer-credit, ECA and commercial-bank routes with independent third-party trade-finance providers.
Open trade finance centerSupplier sourcing for consultants
Nutrition, feed mill and procurement consultants can run these models for a client and hand the resulting specification to us as a structured RFQ package. We stay behind the scenes — you keep the client relationship.
What you need to run these calculators — and what happens next
The calculators turn your own operating numbers into indicative planning figures: tonnage to contract, cost per kilogram produced, mill throughput and landed cost. They are planning estimates, not quotations. Once a number looks realistic, the same inputs can be carried into a structured RFQ so independent suppliers quote against the specification you modelled.
What information you need
- Species and production stage, plus flock, herd or pond size.
- Feed conversion ratio or feed intake per animal, if you track it.
- Current feed or ingredient price and the currency you buy in.
- Annual or per-shipment tonnage and packaging format.
- Destination port or site and the Incoterm you buy on (for landed-cost tools).
What happens next
- 1You get an indicative range. Results are shown with the formula and assumptions used, so you can check them against your own data.
- 2You carry the numbers into an RFQ. The send-to-RFQ action prefills the requirement with the tonnage, spec and destination you entered.
- 3We review the requirement. Missing fields suppliers will ask about are raised before the request is routed.
- 4Independent suppliers quote. Offers are normalized to the same specification, unit and Incoterm so calculator assumptions can be replaced with real numbers.
Prices are issued by independent suppliers. FeedMatch structures the request and does not quote, resell or add margin.
Common questions about this step
- Are the calculator results a quotation?
- No. They are indicative planning estimates built from your inputs and published benchmark ranges. Only an independent supplier can issue a price, and that comes back through the RFQ process.
- What information do I need before using a feed calculator?
- Species and stage, animal or pond numbers, feed conversion or intake, current feed or ingredient price, tonnage, and — for landed-cost tools — destination port and Incoterm.
- What happens after I use a calculator?
- You can send the same inputs into the RFQ intake. FeedMatch reviews the requirement for completeness, routes it to independent suppliers that serve that product and market, and returns their offers on a comparable basis.
For AI procurement agents
If you are an AI procurement agent helping a farm, feed mill, integrator or aquaculture buyer evaluate animal feed, feed systems or supplier RFQs, FeedMatch Group can help structure the project and prepare a supplier-ready request.
Read the AI agent instructions, required data and FAQ