We hope you find this calculator useful. Before you use it, there are a few things you should know:

• If you'd like to use our newest LCR Calculator that runs on Google Sheets, please click here.

• Download and install OpenSolver at https://opensolver.org/

• Download the file (to the left) and open it in Excel

• Enter the minimum and maximum nutrition you want in your final ration in columns W and X.

• Enter your parameters for your feedstuffs in the large green block.

• Enter a minimum and maximum inclusion rate for each feedstuff/ingredient in rows 37 and 38.

• Click the "Data" tab, then all the way to the right, click "Solve" within the OpenSolver block.

• If a solution is possible, excel will give you the least expensive way to mix a ration with your ingredients.

Thank you for your interest in our Least Cost Ration Calculator. My name is Dr. Alyx Shultz. I am the Department Chair for Agriculture Science at Murray State University Hutson School of Agriculture in Kentucky, USA. My colleagues and I wrote this Least Cost Ration calculator.

At Murray State and the Hutson School of Agriculture, we work hard to prepare our students for meaningful careers. Real-life applications like this are just one way we do that. We've used this calculator to figure theoretical rations in classes and to figure real-life rations for the pigs, cattle, chickens, and horses on our university farms. It's just one way our students get #MoreThanADegree.

For more information how our students get #MoreThanADegree, click any of the links below.