Pasture Consumption and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator
The ‘Pasture Consumption and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator’ has been developed to provide the Australian dairy industry with a robust, scientifically sound method of calculating on-farm annual pasture removal (t DM/ha) and estimated annual feed conversion efficiency of the milking herd (kg energy corrected milk/kg DM; grams fat plus protein/kg DM). The estimate of home grown feed consumption may be for the total pasture and forage production area on the farm or for the milking area (area grazed by the lactating herd).
The primary purpose of estimating pasture or home grown feed consumption on the farm or milking area is to benchmark performance of the farm over time, and it is particularly important as cow genetics and/or the feeding systems on individual farms are continually changing. A secondary goal may be to benchmark performance against other farms.
This program is based on generalised equations of ruminant requirements for metabolisable energy (ME, MJ/kg DM) for various physiological processes published in ‘Nutrient Requirements of Domesticated Ruminants’ (CSIRO, 2007), and differs from other approaches which do not fully account for ME requirements. The equations used to estimate ME requirements are described in Heard et al. (2009).
Installation instructions
** Version 2.1 of the ‘Pasture Consumption and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator’ is now available for download. If you downloaded the program prior to August 11, 2010 (Version 1.1), we recommend you delete your existing copy of the program and replace it with Version 2.1. Version 2.1 is an improvement on Version 1.1 as it better describes pasture consumed by dry cows grazing the farm or milking area, and also estimates annual feed conversion efficiency of the milking herd. All other metabolisable energy calculations have remained unchanged.
- Click on the below link: Pasture Consumption and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator V2.1 (EXE 5.1MB)
- Click Save to save the program to you computer. Browse to where you would like it saved, preferably to your c:/ drive. (Or click Run to use the program, without saving it to your computer.)
- Locate the 'Pasture Consumption Calculator and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator V2.1.exe' file in your file manager (where you saved it to), and double click on the file name.
- Click ‘Run’ to use the application.
- Read and accept the user licence agreement, conditions of use continue and disclaimer to continue opening the program.
- The application is now ready to use.
Create a Shortcut: You can also create a shortcut to the application by right clicking on the application name in Windows Explorer and selecting ‘Create Shortcut’. The shortcut icon will appear in the same folder. Now drag that short cut to your Desktop or else where.
Download
Application: 
Pasture Consumption and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator V2.1 (EXE 5.1MB)
Instruction manual: Pasture Consumption and Feed Conversion Efficiency Calculator Instruction Manual
Contact
If you experience any difficulty with this program please contact:
Janna Heard
Ph. (03) 55 730 946
Email: Janna.Heard@dpi.vic.gov.au
