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Feed requirements calculator

Feed Requirements Calculator: Tonnage and Nutrient Specification for Any Formulation

Pick a species and feeding stage, enter the herd or flock, and get the tonnage of compound feed to contract plus the nutrient specification that tonnage must meet. Send both into an RFQ so every supplier quotes the same product.

Feeding programme

Requirement

Daily requirement
3,000 kg/day
Net requirement
42.0 t

14 days on feed

Wastage allowance
1.3 t

3% of net

Safety stock
21.0 t

7 days of cover

Tonnage to contract
64.3 t
Monthly run rate
91.2 t/month
Bags / batches
1,285

50 kg units

Indicative feed cost
26,989

900 per 1,000 animals

Quote this specification Least-cost formulation

The RFQ handoff carries the tonnage and the full nutrient specification, so suppliers quote like-for-like instead of quoting different products.

Scope of this tool

What this tool can and can't do

The feed requirements calculator is a planning tool for budget-stage and RFQ-stage decisions. It gives defensible numbers to compare suppliers against — it is not an engineering, veterinary or financing approval.

What it can do

  • Convert animal numbers, cycle length and intake curves into monthly and annual compound feed tonnage.
  • Add a waste and shrinkage allowance so contracted volume matches real consumption.
  • Split the total into stage-level volumes (starter, grower, finisher) for tender lots.
  • Give an indicative annual feed spend at the price you enter.

What it can't do

  • Predict mortality, disease events or intake depression caused by heat stress or water quality.
  • Replace weighbridge or silo data once the operation is running — it is a planning model, not a reconciliation tool.
  • Include freight, duties, demurrage or financing cost unless you add them to the price input.
  • Guarantee supplier availability at the volume or price you plan against.

Required inputs

  • · Number of animals, or placements per cycle and cycles per year
  • · Average daily intake or a stage intake curve
  • · Cycle length in days (or days in the feeding window)
  • · Waste / shrinkage allowance in percent
  • · Optional: feed price per tonne for the spend estimate

Example run

  • · 50,000 broilers per cycle, 6.5 cycles per year, 35-day cycle
  • · Average intake 105 g/bird/day
  • · Waste allowance 3%
  • · Feed price 390 USD/tonne
  • → Per cycle: 183.75 t plus 3% waste = 189.3 t
  • → Annual requirement: approximately 1,230 t of compound feed
  • → Indicative annual feed spend: about 480,000 USD at 390 USD/t

Use the annual tonnage as the contract volume in your RFQ, and ask suppliers to quote per stage lot. Start a structured RFQ.

Short answer · reviewed August 2026

How do you calculate feed requirements for a formulation or compound feed blend?

Feed requirement = animals on feed × average daily intake × days on that feed, plus a wastage allowance and a safety stock. A 30,000-bird broiler grower flock eating 100 g/day for 14 days needs 42 t of finished feed net, about 45.5 t once 3% wastage and seven days of buffer stock are added. The specification that tonnage must meet comes from the species and stage: broiler grower is 20% crude protein minimum, 3,050 kcal ME/kg, 1.12% lysine and 0.85–1.05% calcium. Quote the tonnage and the specification together — a price per tonne without a nutrient specification cannot be compared between suppliers.

Intake, wastage and stock benchmarks used by the calculator

Intake, wastage and stock benchmarks used by the calculator — values reviewed August 2026 by FeedMatch Group
MetricValueUnitBasis
Broiler grower daily intake95–110g/bird/day11–24 days, pelleted grower
Layer daily intake at peak110–118g/hen/dayPeak production, 17.5% CP diet
Grower pig daily intake1.8–2.1kg/head/day25–50 kg live weight
Lactating dairy concentrate7–9kg/head/dayConcentrate share of the total ration
Feed wastage allowance2–5% of tonnageSpillage, dust, out-of-spec batches
Recommended buffer stock7–14days of consumptionImported raw materials or long lead times
Premix inclusion0.25–1.0% of finished feedVitamin–mineral premix, species dependent
Feed share of live production cost60–70% of total costCommercial poultry, swine and aqua operations

Sources · FAO — Animal production and feed · NRC Nutrient Requirements of Poultry / Swine · GMP+ International feed safety assurance

Ranges are indicative buyer-side benchmarks compiled by FeedMatch Group from supplier offers and the sources above; verify against a current quotation before budgeting.

FAQ

Feed requirement questions buyers ask

How do I calculate how much compound feed I need?
Multiply the number of animals on feed by the average daily intake and by the number of days they stay on that formulation, then add a wastage allowance (2–5%) and a safety stock expressed in days of consumption. 50,000 layers eating 112 g/day for 30 days need 168 t net, roughly 185 t contracted with 3% wastage and 7 days of buffer.
What nutrient specification should I put in the RFQ?
At minimum: crude protein, metabolisable energy, crude fibre maximum, calcium range, available phosphorus, digestible lysine and methionine, sodium, plus packing and delivery terms. Without those, suppliers quote different products and the cheapest price per tonne is usually the weakest formula.
How much feed does a broiler flock eat per cycle?
A 2.4 kg broiler at FCR 1.65 eats roughly 4 kg of feed across starter, grower and finisher. Split by phase, that is about 0.30 kg starter, 1.40 kg grower and 2.30 kg finisher per bird placed, which is how the requirement should be phased in a supply contract.
Should I buy compound feed or formulate in-house?
Below roughly 500 t per month, buying compound feed usually beats running a mill once labour, quality control and premix logistics are counted. Above that, in-house formulation on your own delivered raw-material prices typically recovers 3–8% of feed cost. Run both the requirement sheet and the least-cost formulation calculator before deciding.
How much buffer stock should a feed mill or farm hold?
Seven days is normal where raw materials are domestic and trucking is reliable; 14–30 days is common where soybean meal, fishmeal or amino acids are imported and port clearance is unpredictable. Buffer stock is a working-capital decision, so size it against your storage capacity and shelf life, not only against lead time.
Does the calculator include amino acids and premix?
Yes. The nutrient sheet converts the finished-feed specification into the mass of crude protein, calcium, phosphorus, lysine, methionine and premix that has to sit inside the contracted tonnage, so you can see whether a supplier's offer is physically consistent with the specification.
Can I send the result straight to suppliers?
Yes. The RFQ handoff carries the tonnage, the phase and the full nutrient specification into the request, and FeedMatch runs it across qualified manufacturers and ingredient suppliers, returning every offer normalised to landed cost per tonne. Supplier-neutral and free for buyers.
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