Feedwise™

Feed requirements for meat does

How much energy meat does need each day — at maintenance, in milk and through late pregnancy. Worked out by the same engine that runs our calculators, from its cited requirement equations — AFRC 1993 for the most part, with CSIRO and New Zealand sources where they are the better reference.

Also asked about as Boer does.

What these figures are, and aren't

  • They are requirements, not allowances. This is what the animal needs to eat, not what to put in front of it. On pasture you have to offer more than this — for what gets trampled, fouled and left behind.
  • Dry matter assumes 11 MJ ME/kg DM — a good ryegrass/clover pasture. On poorer feed the animal needs more kilograms for the same energy, and may not physically be able to eat them.
  • Rolling country, no cold stress. Grazing costs energy on top of the housed figure, and steeper country costs more again. The calculator takes terrain and an optional cold-stress allowance.
  • Protein is metabolisable protein (MP), not crude protein — what reaches the animal after the rumen, which is what the requirement is actually written in.
  • Whether the animal can eat this much is a separate question. A requirement is what hitting the target takes, not what fits in the rumen — and on fibrous feed the gut fills before the appetite does. The calculator checks that against the feed you actually have.

Maintenance — holding weight

What it takes to stand still: no growth, no milk, no pregnancy. Every other figure on this page is this plus something.

Daily maintenance feed requirement for meat does by liveweight
LiveweightEnergyDry matterProtein (MP)
40 kg7.6 MJ0.7 kg DM48 g
45 kg8.3 MJ0.8 kg DM52 g
50 kg9.0 MJ0.8 kg DM56 g
55 kg9.7 MJ0.9 kg DM61 g
60 kg10.4 MJ0.9 kg DM65 g
65 kg11.0 MJ1.0 kg DM69 g
70 kg11.7 MJ1.1 kg DM73 g
75 kg12.3 MJ1.1 kg DM76 g

In milk

Daily requirement at a given liveweight and milk yield, at a typical composition for the class. Each cell is MJ of ME, with the dry matter that takes underneath.

Daily feed requirement for meat does by liveweight and milk yield
Liveweight0.5 L/day1 L/day2 L/day2.5 L/day3 L/day
40 kg
9.8 MJ
0.9 kg DM
12.0 MJ
1.1 kg DM
16.5 MJ
1.5 kg DM
18.7 MJ
1.7 kg DM
20.9 MJ
1.9 kg DM
45 kg
10.5 MJ
1.0 kg DM
12.8 MJ
1.2 kg DM
17.2 MJ
1.6 kg DM
19.4 MJ
1.8 kg DM
21.7 MJ
2.0 kg DM
50 kg
11.2 MJ
1.0 kg DM
13.5 MJ
1.2 kg DM
17.9 MJ
1.6 kg DM
20.1 MJ
1.8 kg DM
22.4 MJ
2.0 kg DM
55 kg
11.9 MJ
1.1 kg DM
14.1 MJ
1.3 kg DM
18.6 MJ
1.7 kg DM
20.8 MJ
1.9 kg DM
23.0 MJ
2.1 kg DM
60 kg
12.6 MJ
1.1 kg DM
14.8 MJ
1.3 kg DM
19.3 MJ
1.8 kg DM
21.5 MJ
2.0 kg DM
23.7 MJ
2.2 kg DM
65 kg
13.3 MJ
1.2 kg DM
15.5 MJ
1.4 kg DM
19.9 MJ
1.8 kg DM
22.2 MJ
2.0 kg DM
24.4 MJ
2.2 kg DM
70 kg
13.9 MJ
1.3 kg DM
16.1 MJ
1.5 kg DM
20.6 MJ
1.9 kg DM
22.8 MJ
2.1 kg DM
25.0 MJ
2.3 kg DM
75 kg
14.6 MJ
1.3 kg DM
16.8 MJ
1.5 kg DM
21.2 MJ
1.9 kg DM
23.5 MJ
2.1 kg DM
25.7 MJ
2.3 kg DM

Late pregnancy

A 55 kg meat doe, counting down to kidding. Most of the foetal growth is in the last few weeks, which is why the requirement climbs so steeply at the end — and why a multiple is a different animal to feed.

Daily feed requirement for pregnant meat does by weeks to kidding and litter size
Weeks to goSingleTwinsTriplets
8 weeks
11.2 MJ
1.0 kg DM
11.8 MJ
1.1 kg DM
12.6 MJ
1.1 kg DM
6 weeks
12.1 MJ
1.1 kg DM
13.0 MJ
1.2 kg DM
14.3 MJ
1.3 kg DM
4 weeks
13.2 MJ
1.2 kg DM
14.5 MJ
1.3 kg DM
16.4 MJ
1.5 kg DM
3 weeks
13.8 MJ
1.3 kg DM
15.4 MJ
1.4 kg DM
17.6 MJ
1.6 kg DM
2 weeks
14.5 MJ
1.3 kg DM
16.3 MJ
1.5 kg DM
18.9 MJ
1.7 kg DM
1 week
15.2 MJ
1.4 kg DM
17.3 MJ
1.6 kg DM
20.3 MJ
1.8 kg DM

Your stock, your feed

A table has to pick a liveweight and a diet quality. The calculator doesn't — put in your own weights, your target, the feeds you actually have, and it will tell you whether the diet gets there and which of energy, protein or gut fill runs out first.

Open the feed calculator Other stock classesMethane from meat doesThe equations behind these numbers

Feedwise gives indicative models for decision support. It is not a substitute for a nutritionist or veterinarian — for animal-health decisions, talk to your vet.