No matter whether different feeding intervals or frequencies or the handling of premixes – feeding always depends on your individual farming routines. In order to adapt your fodjan in the best possible way, we present some special cases and the corresponding solutions in fodjan here.
If the residual feed of group A, e.g. the high performers, is collected and thus presented to group B, e.g. a junior group, as feed, this can also be documented in fodjan.
Case 1) The residual feed is not further enriched with other feedstuffs
- Weigh back the residual feed of group A or roughly estimate the amount.
- This quantity can then be documented in the documentation under feed and feed intake for group B.
- However, since we do not know the composition of the residual feed (group A may eat selectively), evaluations of the mixing accuracy cannot be used meaningfully. However, evaluations of feed intake, as they appear e.g. in feed controlling, can be used with it.
Case 2) The residual feed is enriched with other feedstuffs before it is fed on.
- To do this, create a ration for group B that contains the added feed.
- Place the residual feed at the mixing order place 1. You can do this by exporting the ration of group A as feed (if you have questions, see the instructions for creating editable mixed feed), naming it accordingly as “Residual feed group A” or similar and thus including it in the ration of group B. Attention! If the ration of group A changes, this export and the replacement of the “residual feed” must be done in the same way each time!
- With this ration of group B, you can then first weigh back the residual feed with the mixing trolley and then add further components – this is also possible as usual via the feed now function in the app if you do not use a feed mixing technology interface. Both end up accordingly in the documentation as well as in the evaluations for feed consumption and mixing accuracy, etc.
If you feed your feed groups irregularly, e.g., on weekends less often than during the week, then you should consider the following:
- In the basic data of the feed group, enter the number of feedings that you realize most often. Example: I feed 2 times during the week, on weekends only 1 time per day à here I enter 2 feedings per day in the basic data of the feed group.
- When I use the feed mixing technology interface or “Feed Now”, I have to keep in mind that at certain times I have to enter multiples of the displayed quantity. Example: You feed 2 times a day during the week and only 1 time a day on the weekend à then you have to enter the double of the displayed amounts on the weekend.
- In the feed controlling you can then summarize several days for the evaluation of this group, e.g., if you feed every 2 days on the weekend, two days. Then a smoothed and realistic evaluation appears. In the report on feeding accuracy, please note that multiples of the daily quantity are displayed here on certain days. For example, if you feed every two days on the weekend, the accuracy must be 200 %.
If, for example, you want to mix a ration or farm mix for 2 days, enter 0.5 in the feed group under “Feedings per day”. This allows you to plan the quantity received per day as usual during ration processing, but the “Feed now” function as well as the ration exports for the ration recipe will display double the quantity for mixing.
If you want to mix feed for n days, enter 1/n for feedings per day in the feed group or directly in “Feed now”.
Setting in the feed group in fodjan Pro:
Setting in Feed now function of the app:
If you want to feed different amounts per day, you should consider some settings in the feed groups so that realistic values are shown in the documentation and in the feed controlling. This will be explained following by using an example:
Example:
- 33 % of the daily ration is fed in the morning and 66 % in the late afternoon
- Group size: 36 animals
- fed amount per animal: 20 kg per day
- Amount fed in total: 720 kg (in the morning: 240 kg, in the afternoon: 480 kg)
- As number of feedings “3” is entered in the basic data of the feed group (because 1/3 of the ration is fed in the morning and 2/3 of the ration is fed in the afternoon), as number of animals 36 animals. More about changing the basic data here.
- Enter the ration (for 20 kg per animal per day), more about that here.
- When feeding with the feed mixing technology interface or the function “Feed Now”, the following must be observed:
- There are only 2 feedings per day.
- In the morning feeding the displayed amount is fed (240 kg).
- In the afternoon feeding, the double of the displayed quantity is entered (480 kg instead of 240 kg). With some feed mixer producers, it is possible through an “appetite factor” or a percentage of the total ration to adjust the planned presented quantity correctly (here 200 %).
- In the evaluation of the feeding accuracy, it should be noted that 200 % is displayed for the afternoon feeding, because twice as much was fed as specified in the recipe.
If you want to enter a partial mix, e.g., a partial mix for young cattle that you are still processing for other groups, it is a good idea to create this as a separate ration as a premix, more about this here.
If you then feed part of the premix to a specific group (e.g., the young cattle) and leave part of the premix in the feed mixer wagon for the total ration of another group (e.g., high yielding cows), you must take this into account when feeding via the feed mixing technology interface or “Feed Now”.
Example:
- Group 1: 100 animals, feed intake: 10 kg premix per animal
- Group 2: 50 animals, feed intake: 11 kg premix + 11 kg other components per animal
To save work, the premix for both groups should be mixed from the beginning.
Procedure
When group 1 is fed, not only the premix ration components for the group are added, but also those for group 2:
10 kg premix/ animal * 100 animals + 11 kg premix/ animal * 50 animals = 1,550 kg premix
The number of animals in the first group must be adjusted as follows when using the “Feed Now” function and when using the feed mixing technology interface in the feed group settings:
1,550 kg should be loaded into the feed mixer in total, each animal gets 10 kg premix -> 1,550 kg premix : 10 kg premix/animal = 155 animals
Instead of the actual 100 animals in group 1, 155 animals must therefore be entered in group 1. The single components of the premix are then loaded for a total amount of 1,550 kg. Nevertheless, only 1,000 kg of premix is fed to group 1, the remaining 550 kg remaining in the feed mixer. Group 2 can be fed normally without resetting the weighing system.
The following values should then be adjusted in the documentation after the import has been finished:
- the provided amount of the group 1
- the number of animals in groups 1 and 2
If you do not want to feed certain feed groups every day, but e.g., only every 2 or every 3 days, proceed as follows:
- Adjust the number of feedings in the basic data of the feeding group. If you feed every 2 days, you must enter e.g., 0.5 feedings per day, if you feed every three days e.g., 0.33 feedings per day, more about editing the basic data of the feed group you can also find here.
Example view Pro:
- Create the ration with the daily requirements of the animals, you can also find more about creating rations here.
- The feed mixing technology interface and the “Feed Now” function can then be used normally. Make sure that the animal numbers entered agree with the actual data. Otherwise, problems may occur in the documentation.
- In the feed controlling, you can then aggregate several days for the evaluation of this group, e.g., if you feed every two days, two days or if you feed every three days, three days. Then a smoothed and realistic evaluation appears.
Example view feed controlling:
In the evaluation for feeding accuracy, it should be noted that multiples of the daily amounts are displayed here. For example, if you feed every two days, the accuracy must be 200%, if you feed every three days, for example, it must be 300%.
See also
What is „Milk yield per ration”?
Read more >
Create, edit and delete rations
Read more >
Change displayed nutrients of the ration
Read more >
Notification: Settings of the feed group are not complied with
Read more >
Ration scaling to a quantity target
Read more >
Questions we couldn’t answer?
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