Software for formulation and balancing of animal diets

FEED was written for IBM personal computers and its compatibles. It was designed to calculate the nutritional requirements, formulate practical diets, and to improve the operation of dairy, beef, swine, poultry and horses farms.

In order to formulate the correct diet, FEED considers many important aspects, such as production levels, the physiological status, the management, and weather conditions. The nutritional requirements are estimated by using research and documented information provided by different sources like the National Research Council, (NRC), USA, the Agriculture Research Council of England (ARC), and the National Institute for Agricultural Research in France (INRA).

FEED provides a series of reports that will help making the right decision. It helps answering the question: Which is the best diet from the economical and biological points of view?

The Solution of the diet contains the quantity and percentage of the concentrate and forage fractions de the diet. It also calculates the amounts and percentages of each ingredient within the total diet or per animal .

The Sensibility Analyses include all those ingredients that were considered to be part of the diet, but were not actually used in the solution due to price or composition. Also, it presents analyses of the ingredients that were not part of the solution and how they would affect the final price of the product, if they were forced to be used.

The Parametric Analyses determine price ranges and inclusion levels for each ingredient that would be considered part of the formula.

The Projection of Production and Income handles technical aspects:
...Amount of concentrates and forage to offer per animal
...Production expected from Crude Protein, Energy, Calcium, and Phosphorus.
...Expected income from milk
...Limited nutrient
...Expected milk urea
...Expected rumen pH
...Cation/Anion ratio
...Feeding Costs per litre of milk

Because of its characteristics FEED easily adjusts to different needs. It can be used in factories not only for an effective and efficient formulation of diets, but as excellent tool to improve the nutritional management of its client farms. Technicians can also use the system to formulate diets according to their client's situation, for example: budget and weather conditions. It is an easy program to learn.
FEED is normally commercialised through a course given its creator, the recognised nutritionist and international consultant, Dr. Hugo Varela. This course train the user through a series of practical exercises using FEED; at the end of the course, each participant would receive a license of the software, as well as technical support from IAP.

Users

The system was designed for balancing diets at plant level as well as at farm level. Therefore the soft is very suitable form field nutricionists and with the proper trainning users can include farmers.

Technical requirements

IBM Compatibles, processor 486 or higher, 16 MB RAM, Resolution 800X600; Operative System: DOS, Windows 95 or higher.

Language

Spanish