Dry matter intake calculator
This dry matter intake calculator converts the fresh, or as-fed, weight an animal consumes each day into the weight of feed nutrients left after water is removed.
Run — free
Enter the total daily fresh feed weight and the feed's dry matter percentage, then choose kilograms, grams, or pounds. The result reports daily dry matter intake in the same unit and in kilograms, making it easier to compare rations, laboratory analyses, feeding records, and nutrition targets on a consistent dry matter basis.
Convert as-fed intake to a dry matter basis
Fresh feed includes both water and dry material, so its scale weight alone does not show how much nutrient-bearing material the animal actually consumes. Silage, pasture, hay, mixed rations, and wet by-products can have very different moisture contents even when their fresh weights are identical. This calculator applies the basic conversion directly: daily dry matter intake equals daily feed fresh weight multiplied by dry matter percentage divided by 100. For example, 25 kilograms of feed at 40 percent dry matter supplies 10 kilograms of dry matter. Enter the amount actually consumed by one animal during one day, not merely the amount offered, unless offered feed is the measure you intentionally want to evaluate. Choose the unit used by the weight entry. The main result stays in that unit, while a second result is normalized to kilograms for convenient comparison with common animal nutrition references. The calculation is deterministic and uses no animal-specific assumptions, lookup tables, or hidden adjustment factors.
Choose representative inputs and interpret the result
The dry matter percentage should represent the feed that was consumed during the same period as the fresh weight measurement. Laboratory analysis is generally more reliable than a broad feed-type estimate because moisture can change with harvest conditions, storage, rainfall, fermentation, drying, and exposure after feed-out. If an animal receives several feeds with different dry matter percentages, calculate the dry matter contribution of each feed separately and add those contributions; averaging percentages without weighting them by fresh weight can give the wrong total. The output describes dry matter intake, not digestible dry matter, energy intake, protein intake, or the amount of a particular nutrient. Those measures require additional composition and digestibility data. A result also does not decide whether intake is adequate for an animal. Requirements vary with species, body weight, physiological stage, production level, health, environment, and ration quality. Use the number as a transparent conversion for ration review, then compare it with appropriate professional or locally validated feeding guidance.
Measure consumption consistently in daily records
Good intake estimates depend more on consistent measurement than on complicated arithmetic. When possible, determine consumption as feed offered minus refusals over the same daily interval, and account for changes in the moisture content of refusals when that difference is important. For group-fed animals, dividing a pen total by animal count gives an average rather than each individual's intake, so label it accordingly. Keep fresh weight and dry matter percentage tied to the same feed batch or sampling window, record the selected unit, and avoid mixing kilograms, grams, and pounds between source documents. The calculator accepts a dry matter percentage above zero and up to 100; a value of 100 describes completely dry material, while very wet feeds produce a much smaller dry matter weight than their fresh weight. API calculations cost $0.002, and the browser version uses the same formula. Saving the inputs beside the output creates a reproducible record that another nutritionist, farmer, veterinarian, researcher, or auditor can check without reverse-engineering a spreadsheet.
What you can do with it
Review a dairy ration
Convert measured as-fed intake of a total mixed ration into kilograms of dry matter per cow per day.
Compare feeds with different moisture
Put wet forage, silage, hay, or by-products on a consistent dry matter basis before comparing intake amounts.
Check feeding trial records
Turn daily fresh feed consumption and laboratory dry matter results into a reproducible intake value for each treatment.
FAQ
What formula is used?
Daily dry matter intake equals feed fresh weight multiplied by dry matter percentage divided by 100.
Should I enter feed offered or feed consumed?
Use feed consumed for an intake calculation. If you only enter feed offered, the output is dry matter offered and may overstate actual intake when refusals occur.
Can I combine several feeds in one calculation?
Only if they share the same dry matter percentage. Otherwise calculate each feed separately and add their dry matter intake values.
Is dry matter intake the same as nutrient intake?
No. Dry matter includes all material remaining after water removal. Nutrient or energy intake requires the relevant concentration and, where applicable, digestibility data.
Which weight units are supported?
You can enter kilograms, grams, or pounds. The calculator returns dry matter intake in the selected unit and also in kilograms.
What does an API calculation cost?
Each API request costs $0.002. The deterministic calculation can also run interactively in the browser.
For developers — API access
Everything on this page is available programmatically. This section is for teams who want to wire it into their own systems; everyone else can just use the tool above.
API endpoint
Prefer to automate it? One authenticated POST creates the task; the result comes back by webhook or a signed link. The same capability also runs here on the web, by email and from Telegram — and soon from our app too.
Call it from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.kit.forhosting.com/bio/dry-matter-intake \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $KIT_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"feed_fresh_weight":25,"dry_matter_percentage":40}'const res = await fetch("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/bio/dry-matter-intake", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.KIT_KEY}`,
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"feed_fresh_weight": 25,
"dry_matter_percentage": 40
})
});
const { task_id } = await res.json();import os, requests
res = requests.post(
"https://api.kit.forhosting.com/bio/dry-matter-intake",
headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['KIT_KEY']}"},
json={
"feed_fresh_weight": 25,
"dry_matter_percentage": 40
},
)
task_id = res.json()["task_id"]<?php
$res = file_get_contents("https://api.kit.forhosting.com/bio/dry-matter-intake", false, stream_context_create([
"http" => [
"method" => "POST",
"header" => "Authorization: Bearer " . getenv("KIT_KEY") . "\r\nContent-Type: application/json",
"content" => '{"feed_fresh_weight":25,"dry_matter_percentage":40}',
],
]));
$task = json_decode($res, true);body := bytes.NewBufferString(`{"feed_fresh_weight":25,"dry_matter_percentage":40}`)
req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", "https://api.kit.forhosting.com/bio/dry-matter-intake", body)
req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("KIT_KEY"))
req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)Example request
{
"feed_fresh_weight": 25,
"dry_matter_percentage": 40
}Example response
{
"task_id": "tsk_a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6",
"type": "bio.dry_matter_intake",
"status": "queued",
"_links": {
"result": "/tasks/tsk_…/result"
}
}The API is asynchronous: the call returns a task_id immediately and the result arrives by webhook. Polling is capped at 1 req/s per task.
Pricing
Published price — no tokens, no invented credits. A failed task is never charged.
Errors
| HTTP | Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
401 | unauthorized | Missing or invalid API key. |
402 | insufficient_balance | Your balance doesn't cover the task price. |
404 | unknown_type | That task type doesn't exist. |
429 | rate_limited | Too many requests. Use the webhook instead of polling. |