Feed cost-per-nutrient calculator

Why price the nutrient, not the ton

A dollar-per-ton price tells you what a truckload costs, not what the protein or energy inside it costs, and a ration is built on the nutrients. Two things hide inside a per-ton price: water, because a wet feed is part water by weight and water carries no nutrient, and nutrient density, because a ton of a protein meal and a ton of a fiber feed hold very different amounts of what you are buying. Moving to a dry-matter basis and then to a cost per pound of the nutrient strips both out so feeds that look nothing alike line up on even terms.

The three steps

First, divide the as-fed price by the dry-matter fraction to get a dry-matter price. Second, divide that by 2,000 pounds times the crude-protein percent to get the cost of a pound of protein. Third, do the same with the TDN percent for the cost of a pound of energy, and with net energy in Mcal per pound if you have it. The coefficients you enter should be your own lab analysis or a book value from a named feed table; the site's leaderboard uses values verified against extension and NRC tables, listed on the methodology page.

What it does not do

This prices one nutrient at a time. It says nothing about amino-acid balance, effective fiber, palatability, moisture handling, sulfur or the inclusion limit on a feed, all of which decide what actually goes in the ration. Use it to screen prices, not to formulate a diet.