Ration formulation– The goal is to offset the animals requirement with an appropriate

level of feed nutrients. – There are economic and possibly animal welfare consequences

when the ration is „out of balance” in either surplus or deficient direction.

– The accuracy of the process depends, how reliable the information provided for each „side” of the balance are (nutrient requirements of the animals, nutrient content of feeds).

Ration formulation– There are two ways for formulation:• hand methods (needs practice, practical experience, slow, does not take into account the

price of feedstuffs)• computer methods (quick, takes into account also the price of feedstuffs, needs also

practical experience)

– For ruminants daily rations are prepared (daily ration for cows producing 20l milk per day)

– For monogastric animals compound diets are produced (diets for 30-60 kg pigs)

The nutrient content of feeds – can be measured in a laboratory– can be found in the same recommendations like to the requirementsIn the case of ruminants the following requirement values are used:– dry matter, NE, crude protein, crude fibre, Ca, P, In the case of monogastric animals:– dry matter, DE or ME, crude protein, crude fibre, Ca, P, Lysine, Methionine

+ CystineOther minerals, vitamins, salt are added in the form of so called premixes

Ration formulationThe requirement of animals depends on the – species (feedstuffs used for the ruminants and monogastrics are

different)– form of utilisation (the ration of milking cows contain more forage,

on the other hand beef cattle are fed with rations containing high amounts of grains)

– age of animals (young animals need more energy, protein, minerals, vitamins; requirements decline in elder animals)

Requirement values can be determined or found in different recommendations (National Research Council, NRC; other national recommendations, like Hungarian Feed Codex, research publications etc.)

Determination the energy, protein or amino acid requirements with animal experiments

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

12MJ/kg

12,0MJ/kg

12,5MJ/kg

13MJ/kg

13,5MJ/kg

12,8

Requirements of some animal species

Energy Crude protein

Ca P

Beef cattle, live weight: 300 kg, daily growth rate: 800g

26,6 MJ NEm

11,6 MJ NEg

741g 29g 18g

Growing diet for pigs (50 kg)

14MJ DE 170g 6g 5g

Broiler grower diet (3-5 week old chicks)

13, 4 MJ ME 200g 9g 3,5g*

Turkey growing diet (13 week old birds)

13,0 MJ ME 190g 7,5g 3,8g*

* = non phytate, or available P

Energy requirements of beef cattle

Liwe weight, kg 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650

Medium frame

Growth kg/day Maintenance energy requirement, NEm, MJ/day

15,8 19,6 23,2 266 29,8 33 0 360 39,0 41,9 44,7 -

Energy requirement of growth, NEg, MJ/day

0,4 - - - 6,1 6,8 7,4 8,0 8,6 9,2 -

0,6 5,0 6,3 7 4 8,5 9,5 10,5 11,5 12,5 13,4 14,3 -

0,7 6,0 7,4 8,8 10,1 11,3 12,5 13,6 14,7 15,8 16,9 -

0,8 6 9 8,6 10,2 11,6 13,1 14,4 15,8 17,1 18,3 19,6 -

0,9 7,9 9,8 116 13,2 14,9 16,4 18,0 19,4 20,9 22,3 -

1,0 8 8 11,0 13,0 14,9 16,7 18,4 20,2 21,8 23,4 25,0 -

1,1 9,8 12,2 14,4 16,5 18,5 20,5 22,4 24,2 26,0 27,8 -

1,2 10,8 13,4 15 8 18,2 20,4 22,5 246 26,6 28,6 -

1,3 11,8 14,6 17,3 19,8 22,3 24,6 26,9 29,1 - - -

1,4 - 159 18,8 21,5 24,1 26,7 29,2 - - -

Big frame

Growth kg/day

Maintenance energy requirement, NEm, MJ/day

16,6 20,6 24,3 27,9 31,3 34,6 37,8 40,9 43,9 46,9 49,8

Energy requirement of growth, NEg, MJ/day

0,4 - - - - 6,5 7,1 7,6 8,1 8,6

0,6 4,5 5,6 6,6 7,5 8,4 9,3 10,2 11,0 11,9 12,7 13,4

0,8 61 7,6 9,0 10,3 11,6 12,8 14,0 15,1 16,3 17,4 18,4

0,9 7 0 8,7 10,2 11,7 13,2 14,6 15,9 17,2 18,5 19,7 21,0

1,0 7,8 9,7 11,5 13,2 14,8 164 179 19,3 20,8 22,2 23,5

1,1 8,7 10,8 12,8 14,6 16,4 18,2 19,8 21,5 23,1 24,6 26,1

1,2 9,6 11,9 140 16 1 18,1 20,0 21,8 23,6 25,4 27,1 28,7

1,3 10,5 13,0 15,3 17,6 197 21,8 23,8 25,8 27,7 29,6 31,4

1,0 11,3 14,1 16,6 19,0 21,4 23 7 258 28,0 300 32,1 -

1,5 12,2 15,2 17,9 20,6 23,1 25,5 27,9 30,2 32,4 - -

1,6 13,1 16,3 19,3 22,1 248 27,4 29,9 32,4 - -

1,8 - 18,5 21,9 25,1 28,2 31,2 34,0 - -

Formulation daily rations for milking cows

Basic ration (the roughage part of the ration, covers the maintenance requirement of cows and the production of about 10-12 l milk per day)

Supplementary feed (contains cereals and protein concentrates, covers the requirement of producing milk above the basic ration)

Mineral and vitamin premixes are mixed with the supplementary feed. If no supplementary feed is needed some grain meal (0,5-1 kg) is used to mix with the premixes.

Formulation daily rations for milking cows

1. find out the nutrient requirement of the cow or th group of cows2. find out the feedstuffs available3. define the ratio of feedstuffs, according to the potential dry

matter intake of cows and the recommended maximum ratios of feedstuffs

4. NEl and crude protein contents of the ration is calculated and compared with the requirements

5. Check the Ca and P supply. If necessary use Ca and P supplements. If both minerals are missing, use the P supplement first, since it contains also Ca. The final deficiency of Ca can be supplied with limestone.

6. Check the fibre content of the ration (20±3% of the dry matter intake)

7. Ruminants can feed about 8-10% green forages, 3-5% silages, and 0,5-1% hays of their live weight.

Formulation daily ration for 600 kg milking cows, producing 14 litre milk per day, the milk contains 3,6% fat, grazing on good quality pasture

Requirement Dry matter (kg) NEl (MJ) Crude protein (g)

Ca (g) P (g)

Maintenance

Milk production

Total

Feedstuffs Nutrients in 1 kg dry matter Nutrients in the ration

sz.a. NEl c. prot. c. fibre Ca P Amount dry matter

NEl c. prot. c. fibre Ca P

(g) (MJ) (g) (g) (g) (g) (kg) (kg) (MJ) (g) (g) (g) (g)

corn silage 25

alfalfa hay 5

Total 30

Differences

Maintenance requirements of cows

Weight (kg)

crude protein

Ca p

NEl, MJ g

grazing

stall good quality

medium quality

450 34,3 37,7 41,2 403 19 15

500 37,2 40,9 44,6 432 22 17

550 39,9 43,9 47,9 461 24 18

600 42,6 46,9 51,1 489 26 20

650 45,2 49,7 54,2 515 28 21

700 47,8 52,6 57,4 542 30 23

750 50,4 55,4 60,5 567 32 25

Requirements of production 1 litre milk

milk fat%

NEl MJ

milk protein

%

CP Ca pg

3,0 2,68 2,7 773,5 2,87 2,8 823,6 2,92 2,9 833,7 2,96 3,0 843,8 3,00 3,1 853,9 3,04 3,2 864,0 3,10 3,3 87 2,8 1,74,1 3,13 3,4 88

Potential dry matter intake of dairy cows, kg (±1kg)

Live weight (kg) 400 500 600 700

Milk production(kg)

10 10,0 11,5 13,2 14,715 11,2 12,5 14,4 16,120 12,4 14,0 16,2 18,225 13,6 15,5 18,0 19,630 14,8 17,0 19,2 21,035 16,0 18,0 20,4 22,440 19,0 21,6 23,845 - 20,0 22',8 25,2

Ca and P supplements

Name Ca P

Ca:P

Amount needed for supplying 1

g PDry matter

(g/kg) g/kg

MCP (monocalcium phosphate)

908 160 220 0,73:1 4,55

DCP (dicalcium phosphate) 980 290 210 1.38:1 4,76ÁP-17 950 225 171 1,31:1 5,85ÁP-18 950 191 187 1,02:1 5,35Hostaphos 950 90 175 0,51:1 5,71NutrafoszI. (cattle )

950 87 131 0,66:1 7,63

II. (pig) 950 184 105 1,75:1 9,52III. (poultry) 950 170 105 1,62:1 9,52Phylafor 950 39 121 0,32:1 8,26Cefkaphos 950 160 227 0,70:1 4,41Phylafor Super 950 34 180 0,19:1 5,56Phylafor (sheep) 950 42 122 0,34:1 8,20Limestone 950 380 - - -