Program Help

Navigation

Access to the functions of all areas of the MSU Sheep Ration program is available throught the menu found at the top of each page.

The following functions can be found in the various drop down menus:

Home. This takes you to the welcome page of the program.
Feeds. Access the feed library and related functions.
- Feed Library. View the catalog of feeds available.
- Enter a Custom Feed. Enter a feed based on laboratory analysis of your own feeds.
- Edit a Custom Feed. Change previously entered values for a custom feed.
Requirements. View nurtitional requirements for different animal classes.
Balance. Pages accessed through this menu allow you to create rations.
- Balance a Diet Ration. Create a standard ration for most feeding situations.
- Balance a Feedlot Ration. Create a ration for use in a feedlot.
- Flock Feeding. Calculate feed requirements for bulk feeding.
- Winter Supplemntation. Calculate supplementation requirements for ewes grazing on winter forage.
Calculator. Perform various unit conversions.
Documents. Access various documents relating to the nutritional needs of sheep.
Help. This document.
My Account. Change your email and passowrd.
About. Contact information.
Logout. Click here to exit the program.

Most pages associated with this program have explanatory text at the top, followed by a section with a grey background which contains the main input controls for a page. Pages in the Balance section also have table of values associated with a ration; you may change some values for a ration using controls which are part of this table. If a table has more than one page of data, paging controls are found at the bottom of the table.

NOTE: this site is best viewed with a modern browser such as Internet Explorer 10 or higher, Chrome 29 or higher, or Firefox 21 or higher. Chrome 29 or higher is recommended for best appearance.

Feeds

Feed Library

You can view feeds in the feed database using this page. You can use the controls in the grey area to filter based on the name of the feed or, if you are logged in, you can choose to have feeds you have defined included or look at only feeds you have defined. Click the reset button to clear search parameters.

Enter a Custom Feed

Use this page to enter values for a laboratory analysis of a feed available to you. If you wish, you can start by choosing a template feed from the drop down list. When you choose a feed, its values will be displayed. Once you have decided on a feed to use as a template click on "Use Template Values" to create a new feed based on the selected feed. If you do not wish to use a template, click on the "Create New Feed" button.

For most accurate results you should enter all of the "Total Nutrients" and "Energy Content" values as a minimum.

Edit a Custom Feed

This page allows you to edit feeds which you have defined but which have are not currently included in a ration. If you have already used a feed in a ration and wish to change values, perhaps you have a new analysis, create a new feed using your existing feed as a template.

Requirements

You can view nutritional requirements for various classes of animals here. Select an animal group to view the requirements, various weight classes for that animal group will be displayed. To view all animal groups choose "All Animal Groups" at the bottom of the drop down list.

Balance

Clicking on Balance will take you to a list of all the rations you have defined. From this page you can edit or delete existing rations or you can create a new ration.

Balance a Diet Ration

This page allows you to create a new diet ration or edit an existing one.

Edit an existing ration.

To edit an existing ration, select a ration from the drop down list of rations.

Create a new Diet Ration

To create a new diet ration, first select an animal group from the drop down list. Once this is done choose a weight class from the drop down. Once this is done a suggested ration name will be presented, edit this name so that it is meaningful to you and click the "Create a New Ration" button.

Editing feeds in a ration

The procedure for adding and deleting feeds from a ration is similar for both creation and editing.

Add a new feed. To add a feed to a ration, select the desired feed from the "Available Feeds" list. Clicking on a feed displays its nutritional content in the preview values table. If this is the feed you want to add, click on the arrow button to move it to the "Selected Feeds" list. The feed will be added to your ration in an initial amount of one pound (.45 kg).
Delete a feed. There are two ways to delete a feed from a ration: first you can select it in the "Seleted Feeds" list and click the arrow button to move it to the available feeds list, second you can click on the "Delete" link next to the feed in the ration table.

Both the amount of a feed to use in a ration and the price of that feed can be edited. To do this, click on the "Edit" link next to the feed in the ration table. Doing this puts that feed into edit mode and you can then change the price per pound and the amount fed in either pounds or kg. Once you are done editing clicking on "Save" will save your changes or "Cancel" will discard the changes you have made.

Downloading a diet ration

You can download a ration to an Excel spreadsheet for printing or viewing by clicking on the Download to spreadsheet link underneath the ration feed table. If you don't have Excel, you can read it with the free program OpenOffice: downloadable here for Windows. Got a Mac? Try here.

Balance a Feedlot Ration

This page allows you to create a new feedlot ration or edit an existing one.

Edit an existing ration

To edit an existing ration, select a ration from the drop down list of rations. The parameters for this ration will be displayed in a panel in the input area. Note that you cannot edit parameters associated with an existing ration once it is created.

Create a new ration

To create a new feedlot ration you must first define several parameters which are used to calculate the animal requirements. The parameters are:

Animal Type. Ewe, Wether or Ram.
Frame Size. The frame size of the animal: Small, Medium or Large.
Weight. The starting weight of the animal. Be sure to choose the correct units, default is US units.
Average Temperature. The average temperature at which the animal is to be kept. Be sure to choose the correct units, default is Fahrenheit.
Roughage.. The type of roughage included in the diet.
Shorn.. Whether or not the animal is shorn.

Once all of the parameters are chosen, you should give the ration a meaningful name and click the "Create New Ration" button.

Editing feeds in a ration

The procedures for adding or removing feeds from a feedlot ration is similar to those for a diet ration.

Add a new feed. To add a feed to a ration, select the desired feed from the "Available Feeds" list and click the arrow button to add it to the ration. Clicking on the arrow button will cause a prompt to appear asking for the percentage of the feed to be used in the ration. Enter a number greater than 0 and less than or equal to 100 and click "OK" to add the feed or "Cancel" to cancel adding the feed to the ration.
Delete a feed. There are two ways to delete a feed from a ration: first you can select it in the "Seleted Feeds" list and click the arrow button to move it to the available feeds list, second you can click on the "Delete" link next to the feed in the ration table.

Both the percentage of a feed to use in a ration and the price of that feed can be edited. To do this, click on the "Edit" link next to the feed in the ration table. Doing this puts that feed into edit mode and you can then change the price per pound and the percentage fed. Once you are done editing clicking on "Save" will save your changes or "Cancel" will cancel the changes you have made.

When the total of the percentages of feeds in a ration equals 100 you will be allowed to adjust the absolute amount of the ration fed to the animal. The relationship of the amounts of nutrients in the ration to the requirements of the animal are shown in the last row of the ration table. Be sure to read the note on mineral intake and intake amounts underneath the table.

Downloading a feedlot ration

Flock Feeding

The Flock Feeding page allows you to calculate the amount of feed necessary to feed a flock when wastage is taken into account. To use this page, choose a ration to use and click on the "Use This Ration" button. The ration will be displayed. You can set the percentage of wastage for each feed by clicking on the edit button. Once all the waste percentages are set, the calculator will be shown. Select the units to use, the number of head and the number of days to calculate feed requirements for, then click on the "Calculate" button. The total amount of feed required, the "as fed" amount plus the waste percentage, will be shown in the table. If accurate feed prices have been entered when the ration was created the total cost of feeding the flock will also be displayed.

Calculator

This page allows you to calculate some common conversions necessary to use this program. The conversions are for weights, temperatures, feed energy content, concentrations of nutrients (to get ppm values), liquid and dry volumes and a price calculator. To use this enter the known value in the appropriate converter and click on the corresponding calculate button. If you wish to perform another conversion of the same type, be sure and click the "Clear" button first!