RATION BALANCER AND NUTRIENT REQUIREMENT CALCULATOR

This program calculates energy and protein, calcium and phosphorus requirements and predicts intake of goats. These inputs are passed to a ration balancing program for diet formulation. Inputs are in English units, lbs and TDN. The calculation of protein and energy requirements are based on the new set of equations published by the E (Kika) de la Garza American Institute for Goat Research in Small Ruminant Research volume 53, number 3, published in 2004. In addition, these energy and protein requirement expressions are those recommended for goats by NRC (2007; Nutrient Requirements of Small Ruminants. National Academy Press. Washington, DC), as well as are the Ca and P requirement calculations. Since this program is so large and complex, there is the possibility of undetected errors that may give unrealistic results and should not replace common sense. Please feel free to contact the developers of this program [Dr. Terry Gipson, Dr. Art Goetsch or Dr. Steve Hart] if calculations appear unrealistic or there are problems in using the program. Javascript and cookies must be enabled for this program to work.

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  1. Select the biotype of goat   (bio) Boer goat or Boer cross Spanish or indigenous (local or native) goat Dairy goat Angora goat
     1. Enter lbs of raw mohair that you expect from a six month clip of your Angora goat. This program assumes a 70% yield of clean mohair.  

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  2. Select the class of goat   (class) Suckling goat Growing goat less than one and a half years old (For Angora, less than one year old) Mature goat including late pregnancy Lactating goat including both milk and meat goats
     1. input litter size   (litter size) Single Twins Triplets or greater
     2. Enter week of lactation  
     3. input age of doe at kidding   (age at kidding) 2 to 3 year old or younger 4 year old 5 year old 6 year old or older
     4. Predicted yield and composition per day is:

        milk yield:	lbs
        fat percentage:	%
        protein percentage:	%

        
        You may edit predicted yield and composition, if you feel these values are incorrect.
     1. input breed   (breed) Alpine LaMancha Nigerian Dwarf Nubian Oberhasli Toggenberg Saanen Experimental
     2. input parity   (parity) 1st 2nd or later
     3. input week of lactation  
     4. input litter size   (litter size) Single Twins Triplets or greater
     5. Predicted yield and composition per day is:

        milk yield:	lbs
        fat percentage:	%
        protein percentage:	%

        
        You may edit predicted yield and composition, if you feel these values are incorrect.

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  3. Select gender of the goat   (gender) Doe [female] Buck [male] Wether [castrated male]
     1. Pregnant goats that are over 95 days pregnant require additional nutrients to maintain pregnancy.Click here if your goat is over 95 days pregnant  
        1. Enter number of kids doe is carrying  
        2. Enter birthweight of your kids if different from   lbs
        Or you can estimate birth weight by using breed   (breed) Boer Boer-cross Dairy breeds Spanish Angora Fainting
        3. Enter day of pregnancy  

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  4. Input bodyweight of goat in lbs  
     If you do not know the weight of the goat, you can measure the heartgirth and estimate the weight by clicking here.  
     1. input heart girth in inches  
     2. Select genotype of the goat   (genotype) Alpine Angora Boer ½ or less Boer cross ¾ or 7/8 Boer cross Fainting LaMancha Nubian Oberhasli Saanen Toggenberg Spanish
     1. For Angora, ½, ¾, 7/8 Boer, Boer, dairy, and Fainting breeds, you need to assess body condition score:   (BCS) 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0

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  5. Select the pounds of weight that you expect the goat to gain in a month   -5 lb per month -4 lb per month -3 lb per month -2 lb per month -1 lb per month 0 lbs per month 1 lb per month 2 lbs per month 3 lbs per month 4 lbs per month 5 lbs per month 6 lbs per month 7 lbs per month 8 lbs per month 9 lbs per month 10 lbs per month 11 lbs per month 12 lbs per month 13 lb per month 14 lbs per month 15 lbs per month 16 lbs per month 17 lbs per month 18 lbs per month 19 lbs per month 20 lbs per month 21 lbs per month 22 lbs per month 23 lbs per month 25 lbs per month 25 lb per month 26 lbs per month 27 lbs per month 28 lbs per month 29 lbs per month 30 lbs per month
     (Exclusive of gain due to pregnancy)

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  6. Nutrient requirements must be adjusted for grazing, walking and browsing activity.Click here if your goats have access to pasture  
     1. Grazing energy requirements are affected by grazing activity (larger pasture, longer distance walked in a day, and steepness of pasture that animals are walking on). Select the appropriate grazing activity   (activity) stable feeding, minimal activity intensive management, temperate or tropical range semiarid rangeland, slightly hilly pastures arid rangeland, sparse vegetation, mountainous pastures

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  7. Enter estimated TDN level of the diet.  

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  8. Enter estimated crude protein level (%) of the diet.  

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  Trait	Requirements
  TDN energy requirements
  crude protein requirements
  calcium requirements
  phosphorus requirements

  NB: The crude protein requirements calculated for this suckling kid are based upon the calculations for crude protein requirements for a growing kid.

   

  Trait	Prediction
  dry matter intake

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  You may now proceed to the Mixed Ration Balancer by clicking on the above "Select Feed Ingredients" button. Then click on the feedstuffs to be included in the diet. If feedstuffs other than those in the library will be used, then these should be entered into the library. In the second window, enter the percentages on a DM basis and cost for each feedstuff. The total of the DM percentage should be 100. Any changes to library composition values for particular feedstuffs should be made in the second window. It should be noted that only the last formulation is available. If you plan on formulating several diets, it would be a good idea to print each formulation.

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