Feed budgets and trigger dates

A feed budget shows how long your feed will last and how big the gap is if the season stays dry. A trigger date is the day you have agreed, in advance, to act if it hasn't rained. Together they take the guesswork out of the hardest calls.

Build the feed budget

A simple feed budget has four lines:

1. Feed on hand, in tonnes.
2. Daily use for each mob, using the ration your nutritionist or vet sets.
3. Days of feed left: feed on hand divided by daily use.
4. The gap: the number of days you plan to feed, less the days you have, multiplied by daily use.

Plan for longer than you hope. If you think the break might come in 90 days, budget for 120 or more. A budget that runs out early doesn't help anyone.

Our feed budget spreadsheet does the sums for each mob and puts a cost on the gap. Get a delivered price per tonne, including freight, because freight can add a lot to cheap hay.

Set trigger dates

A trigger date is a line in the sand. For example: "If we haven't had useful rain by 15 December, we sell the cull cows." You decide the date, the rain that counts, and the action, all before the pressure builds.

Why bother? Because without a trigger, it's easy to wait one more week, then another. By then the stock have lost condition, prices may have fallen and the feed is gone. Selling or moving stock earlier usually gives you more choices.

Good triggers are:

• Specific: a date, a rainfall amount and a named mob.
• Staged: the first trigger moves the stock you'd least want to keep. A later trigger moves the next group.
• Written down: on the drought money plan, so the whole family and your adviser can see them.

Check the triggers against the cash

Each trigger changes the feed budget and the cashflow. Selling stock early saves feed and brings in cash. Holding them costs feed but keeps your numbers for when it rains. Run each step through the budget so you can see what it does.

Your agent, vet and nutritionist know the stock and the market. We help you put their advice into numbers. The decision stays yours.