Is Your Feed Paying? Average Daily Gain and Cost of Gain Explained

The two numbers

• ADG (average daily gain): kilos put on per day. Weigh a beast twice and the app computes it.
• Cost of gain: feed money spent ÷ kilos gained. This is the number that decides the ration.

If a steer gains 0.8 kg/day and your feed costs work out at P18 per kilo of gain, while the market pays more than that per live kilo — feeding pays. If it costs more than the market pays, you are paying to feed the beast. Without the numbers you simply don’t know which one is happening.

Run it in ThuoTech

1. Name your feeds (lucerne, lab-lab, concentrate…) each with its cost per kg.
2. Assign animals to a pen — entry weight pulls from their last weighing.
3. Log feed to the pen, not per beast — head count comes from the pen.
4. Weigh on a rhythm — every 2–4 weeks. Each weight updates ADG automatically.
5. Read the cost-of-gain card per pen, and close out each beast on exit for its days-on-feed gain.

Honest rules

• Weigh at the same time of day (gut fill can swing a beast several kilos).
• Count all the feed, including the home-grown lucerne — it isn’t free, it has a market price.
• A pen that isn’t paying is a decision to make, not a hope to keep feeding.

Keep these records without the paperwork

Thuo Tech keeps every animal on record — photos, brands and BAITS tag numbers, treatments and withdrawal periods, weights, breeding, movements and sales — on your computer instead of in a book in a drawer. Built in Botswana, from P100 a month per farm.

Try the whole system free for 14 days — no joining fee. Questions? Email info@thuotech.co.bw or call 72114791.