What the tool does
Spreadsheet solvers and the Pearson square give a mix but rarely say why. The tool solves the whole model and explains the answer.
- Your matrix: any nutrients in any units, prices per kg or per tonne, dry matter, and the least and most of each ingredient. Paste it from a spreadsheet.
- Requirements: minimum and maximum of each nutrient, as fed or on dry matter, and ratios such as calcium over phosphorus.
- Cheapest mix: percentages, price per kg or tonne, and the analysis of the mix on both bases.
- When no mix exists: the smallest set of misses, for example "crude protein is short by 2 points", instead of a bare error.
- Shadow prices and ranges: what each binding requirement costs, the price below which an unused ingredient comes in, and the price range in which the mix stays the same.
- Batch sheet: kilograms for your mixer, rounded to your step with the total kept.
- Files: a formula sheet PDF and a workbook in which price, analysis and batch are formulas on the percentages.
How to use it
- Name the nutrients and units you use.
- Paste or enter the ingredients with price, dry matter, contents and limits.
- Enter the requirements and any ratios.
- Read the mix, the shadow prices and the unused ingredients, then export the formula sheet or the batch.
No built-in tables
Feed composition tables and nutrient requirements belong to their publishers and differ by breed, stage and region, so none are built in. Use your own analyses and the requirements of your breed guide or nutritionist.
How it was checked
The solver was compared with HiGHS on 400 random feed problems: same feasibility, same cost and same shadow prices. Before every release it is run on published examples: the four-ingredient grower feed (corn, soybean meal, wheat bran, limestone; CP 18 %, ME 2 900 kcal/kg, Ca 0.9 to 1.1 %) gives 63.27 / 22.33 / 12.28 / 2.12 % at 30.38 per 100 kg, cheaper than the rounded mix in the article; the FAO catfish model gives 474.0073 baht per 100 kg; a Pearson square of hay and silage to 11 % protein gives 13.8 / 86.2 %.
Limits
The tool does not model animal performance, digestibility, ruminant models such as NASEM or CNCPS, several mixes at once or variable ingredient analyses. It is a calculation from your values, not veterinary or nutritional advice.
Last checked 2026-10-20