Monday, November 12, 2012

Ration Evaluator Excel Spreadsheets

UME Sheep Ration Evaluator is an Excel spreadsheet for evaluating sheep rations. It has been updated with the most recent nutrient requirements from the National Research Council. The new spreadsheet also includes nutrient requirements for dairy ewes.

Two spreadsheets are available for use. The spreadsheet with the .xls extension is for use with Microsoft Excel 2003 and earlier versions. The spreadsheet with the .xlsx extension is for use with Microsoft Excel 2007 and later versions. You should also be able to open the spreadsheets in OpenOffice.

UMESheepRation.xlsx
UMESheepRation.xls

UME Meat Goat Ration Evaluator is an Excel spreadsheet for evaluating meat goat rations. The nutrient requirements are from the National Research Council's Nutrient Requirements of Small Ruminants, published in 2007.

UMEMeatGoatRation.xlsx
UMEMeatGoatRation.xls


The spreadsheets can be used to evaluate rations that are being fed to sheep and/or goats. Adjustments can be made to the rations to make sure the animals' nutrient requirements are being met.

In order to use the spreadsheets (and balance rations), the following information is needed:  animal weight, stage and level of production, and amount and nutritive value of feedstuffs. "Book values" can be used for concentrate feeds, but forages should be analyzed to determine their nutritive content.

The spreadsheets were developed by UME Sheep & Goat Specialist Susan Schoenian. If you have questions about using any of the spreadsheets, feel free to contact Susan at (301) 432-2767 x343 or sschoen@umd.edu.

Link to all spreadsheets developed by Susan Schoenian

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