Step 3: Calculate

Make Confident Decisions Using Science-Based Calculations

Planning establishes your management strategy, but calculations help determine whether that strategy is practical, efficient, and economically sound.

Every day, livestock producers make decisions involving feed requirements, pasture utilization, animal performance, water availability, nutrient management, and production efficiency. While experience remains invaluable, objective calculations provide the confidence needed to evaluate options, reduce uncertainty, and support better management decisions.

Rather than relying on assumptions, successful producers use calculations to quantify requirements, compare alternatives, and estimate the outcomes of different management practices.

Livestock production involves hundreds of decisions throughout the year. Small improvements in feeding, grazing, animal performance, or resource management can have significant impacts on productivity and profitability.

Calculations help producers:

  • Estimate production requirements
  • Compare management options
  • Improve resource efficiency
  • Reduce unnecessary costs
  • Support sustainable management
  • Make objective, evidence-based decisions

Calculations should support management, not replace professional judgement.

What Should Be Calculated

1. Nutrition & Feeding

Nutrition is one of the largest investments on any livestock operation. Accurate calculations help ensure animals receive the nutrients they require without unnecessary feed costs.

Common calculations include:

  • Daily dry matter intake
  • Water requirements
  • Energy requirements
  • Protein requirements
  • Feed conversion ratio
  • Ration balancing
  • Feed inventories
  • Feed costs

Questions to Ask:

  • Are animals receiving enough nutrients?
  • Am I feeding efficiently?
  • Can feed costs be reduced without affecting performance?
2. Grazing & Forage

Calculating forage availability helps balance livestock demand with pasture production throughout the grazing season.

Examples include:

  • Available forage
  • Carrying capacity
  • Stocking rates
  • Grazing days
  • Forage budgets
  • Dry matter supply
  • Seasonal pasture demand

Questions to Ask:

  • Will available forage meet livestock requirements?
  • How many grazing days remain?
  • When should livestock be moved?
3. Animal Performance

Performance calculations help evaluate whether animals are meeting production goals and identify opportunities for improvement.

Important measures include:

  • Average daily gain
  • Feed efficiency
  • Residual Feed Intake (RFI)
  • Body condition trends
  • Growth performance
  • Production benchmarks

Questions to Ask:

  • Are animals converting feed efficiently?
  • Which animals perform above or below expectations?
  • Are production targets being achieved?
4. Environmental Stewardship

Calculations also help producers understand the environmental impacts of livestock production and identify opportunities to improve efficiency.

Examples include:

  • Carbon footprint
  • Manure nutrient value
  • Nutrient recycling
  • Fertilizer replacement value
  • Resource use efficiency

Questions to Ask:

  • Where can nutrient losses be reduced?
  • How much fertilizer value does manure provide?
  • How can environmental performance be improved?
5. Economics

Good management decisions should also make economic sense.

Useful calculations may include:

  • Feed cost per animal
  • Cost of gain
  • Input costs
  • Resource utilization
  • Return on investment
  • Cost comparisons between management options

Questions to Ask:

  • Which management option provides the greatest value?
  • How do changes in feed prices affect profitability?
  • Are investments producing measurable returns?
Calculations Support Better Decisions

Calculations provide objective information that complements practical experience. They allow producers to compare alternatives, test different scenarios, and make decisions with greater confidence.

Numbers alone do not make good decisions—but good decisions are rarely made without good numbers.

Decision Support Tools

Chembe Agriculture offers a growing collection of practical calculators and digital tools designed to simplify livestock management decisions.

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Need More Than a Calculator?

Some management decisions require customized analysis or interpretation. Chembe Agriculture also provides professional data analytics, modelling, and decision-support services to help producers and agricultural organizations evaluate complex production systems, compare management options, and develop science-based solutions.

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Continue Your Decision Journey



Once management decisions have been implemented, the next step is to monitor performance and determine whether the expected results are being achieved.

Assessments Planning Calculate Monitor Improve