Farm Animal Cost
Free Farm Animal Cost calculator with clear step-by-step results.
About Farm Animal Cost
Builds the full cost of keeping stock for a defined period: the purchase or rearing cost, feed for every day held, and annual veterinary and housing costs pro-rated to the days kept. Cost per head per day is the figure that tells you whether holding stock longer is adding value or eroding it.
Formulas
Cost per head
Cost = purchase + feed per day x days + (vet + housing) x days / 365
Cost per head per day
Daily = total cost per head / days kept
Worked example
With the default values below, Farm Animal Cost returns Total cost for the group of $18,258.08. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Number of animalsaccepts 1–100,000
- 30
- Purchase or rearing cost per headminimum 0 $
- 220 $
- Feed cost per head per dayminimum 0 $
- 1.4 $
- Veterinary and medicine per head per yearminimum 0 $
- 35 $
- Bedding, housing and utilities per headminimum 0 $/year
- 45 $/year
- Days keptaccepts 1–3,650
- 240
Results
- Total cost for the group
- $18,258.08
- Cost per head over the period
- $608.60
- Feed component per head
- $336.00
- Cost per head per day
- $2.536
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Cost per head
- 3Cost per head per day
- 4Total cost for the group= $18,258.08
- 5Cost per head over the period= $608.60
- 6Feed component per head= $336.00
- 7Cost per head per day= $2.536
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 6 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation or tax into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 3 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I include my own labour?
For a true enterprise cost, yes - add it to the housing field at a realistic hourly rate. Excluding it makes every livestock enterprise look more profitable than it is.
Does this account for mortality?
No. Divide the total by the number expected to reach sale to get a cost per animal actually sold, which is the figure that matters against the sale price.