Farm tools

Know your farmBefore you commit

26 free farm tools on South African figures: Grain SA, SAFEX and the Land Bank. Pick one, type your own numbers.

Feed cost

Feed cost and profit per animal: does finishing pay?

1. Your animal

Empty: the answer is per animal.

2. On feed

Scholtz & Jordaan (ARC Animal Production), Biological factors that affect feedlot profit in South Africa, Applied Animal Husbandry & Rural Development 2025, vol 18: at least 100 days, a gain above 1.6 kg a day, a 210 to 250 kg A2/A3 carcass and deaths under 1%. Our choice: the lower carcass and the upper deaths (the safe side). The weaner's 200 kg is the calf cash flow's weight, also a choice. No official South African feed conversion was found: enter your feedlot's or feed company's figure.
Empty: 200 kg (a choice).
Empty: the ARC's 100 days.
Empty: the ARC's 1.6 kg.
Your own feed conversion: kilograms of ration eaten for every kilogram the animal gains (your feedlot, feed company or records). No official South African figure.

So the animal gains 160.0 kg to 360.0 kg live.

3. Prices

RPO national averages, week ended 2026-10-23, read by the site today: weaner calf (bulls) R 50.93/kg live; beef A2/3 R 65.55/kg carcass. Updates: read by the site itself and checked; the last valid figure stays when a reading fails.
Checked against Standard Bank Livestock Biweekly Insights No. 20 (2026-10-30): weaner R 51.17/kg, A2/A3 beef R 65.20/kg.
Empty: the RPO weaner calf (bulls) price. Your own animal costs what it would fetch now.
No ration price is published: type your feed company's or co-operative's quote. For reference only: yellow maize alone is R 3 785/t on Safex (Nov 2026, last traded 2026-11-03, before transport); a ration is more than maize.
That is 58.3% of the live weight at slaughter. Empty: the ARC's lower 210 kg (a choice).
Empty: the RPO beef A2/3 price.

4. Deaths, interest and other costs

Empty: the ARC's upper 1% (a choice). A dead animal brings nothing and its feed is still counted.
Empty: prime 10.75% (from 2026-09-25), a reference only, on the animal and half the feed.
Vet, dosing, transport, labour, commission: R0 until you enter it.
The carcass price this much lower and higher: hypothetical, not a forecast; 10% is our choice.
Assumptions used
  • Prices: RPO national average carcass and weaner prices, week ended 2026-10-23 (read today); checked against Standard Bank Livestock Biweekly Insights No. 20 of 2026-10-30.
  • Cattle: Scholtz & Jordaan (ARC Animal Production), Biological factors that affect feedlot profit in South Africa, Applied Animal Husbandry & Rural Development 2025, vol 18 (read 2026-11-04): days, gain, carcass and deaths; the safe ends are our choice.
  • Lambs: Land Bank, Livestock Enterprise Budget 2023/24 Version 2 (published November 2024): Merino weaner lambs, 2 months feedlot system (read 2026-11-04): the weight in, the days, the gain, the carcass, the deaths and the vaccines and dosing; your own figures replace them. For the current figures see the Land Bank's livestock enterprise budgets.
  • Feed conversion and feed price: yours. No official South African feed conversion or ration price is published. Yellow maize on Safex (last traded 2026-11-03) is a reference only.
  • Interest: prime 10.75% from 2026-09-25 on the animal and half the feed, as the feed is bought as it is eaten. All figures exclude VAT.
  • Per animal bought: the deaths take their share of the carcass money; the feed is counted for every animal. Feed may cost at most = (carcass money less the animal with its interest, less other costs) / (1 + half the interest).

The answer

An animal bought at R 10 186 and fed 100 days leaves at most R 3 096 for its feed (R 19.35/kg gained) before it loses money. Enter your feed conversion for the feed price per ton.

Feed may cost at most
R 3 096
R 19.35/kg gained, per animal
Carcass: 210.0 kg x R 65.55/kg, less 1.0% deathsR 13 628
Less the animal: 200.0 kg x R 50.93/kg-R 10 186
Most the feed may cost per animalR 3 096

The interest is at prime (10.75%), a reference only: enter your own rate. No vet, dosing, transport, labour or commission is counted yet: enter your other costs per animal. The RPO prices are of the week ended 2026-10-23: last verified on that date.

All figures exclude VAT. Prices stay at this week's level for the days on feed; the market will move. Not counted unless you enter them: pens, water, labour, transport, commission, tax. Not feeding advice.

Open the calf cash flow How many can the veld carry?Ask Africa EstateRead: Cattle farms in South Africa
How this works and the sources

A weaner calf or a feeder lamb bought, or your own valued at what it would fetch now, fed to slaughter and sold on the hook at this week's RPO A2/A3 price. First the most its feed may cost; with your feed conversion the feed price per ton at which it only breaks even; with your feed price the feed cost per kilogram gained, the interest and what is left per animal and on the group. For cattle the gain, days, carcass and deaths start from the ARC's feedlot criteria; for lambs from the Land Bank's lamb feedlot budget (2023/24, Version 2); the feed conversion and the feed price are yours.

What this does not tell you

  • This does not tell you whether to feed or sell. The prices are this week's national averages and stay there for the days on feed; the market will move before the animal is sold.
  • No official South African feed conversion was found: it is yours to enter, from your feedlot, feed company or records. The lamb figures are the Land Bank's lamb feedlot budget 2023/24 Version 2 (November 2024), shown with its name and date; for the current figures see the Land Bank's livestock enterprise budgets.
  • No ration price is published by a South African source; the yellow maize price is shown as a reference only. Type your feed company's or co-operative's quote.
  • Pens, water, labour, transport, commission and tax are not counted unless you enter them as other costs. The interest is at prime as a reference until you enter your own rate. All figures exclude VAT.
  • No feeding or veterinary advice: speak to your animal nutritionist or veterinarian.
  • Nothing you enter is uploaded or kept by us; the share link carries farm figures only.

Sources

Estimate, not advice. Confirm every figure with your bank, attorney and tax practitioner before a decision.