Feed Cost Calculator
Enter a headcount and your local feed price to estimate the ongoing cost of feeding them — a running-cost planning figure, not a precision ration plan.
Starts from about £1.10/kg — Heygates Country Chicken Layers Pellets, £21.99 per 20kg at one UK retailer. Enter what you actually pay.
Estimated feed cost
£3.48 / week · £14.92 / month
Based on typical intake by growth stage (0.11kg/day per animal) at your entered price. Actual intake varies by breed, age, season and how much they forage — this is a planning estimate, not a ration plan.
Sources checked: September 2026.
How the feed cost is worked out
The calculator multiplies three things: how many animals you keep, how much each eats per day, and the price you pay for feed — per kg in the UK, per lb in the US. That gives a daily cost, which is scaled to a week (× 7) and a month (× 30).
Daily intake uses typical figures for each species. Pigs depend on growth stage — about 0.5 kg a day for a weaner, 1.5 kg for a grower and 2.5 kg for a finisher, from AHDB guidance. Sheep (about 3% of bodyweight in dry matter), rabbits (about 1 oz of pellets per lb of bodyweight) and horses (about 2% of bodyweight, forage and concentrate combined) scale with the weight you enter. Chickens (about 120 g), goats (about 2.3 kg) and ducks (about 150 g) use a single typical figure.
The starting price is only a placeholder, so enter what you actually pay. If you buy by the bag, divide the bag price by its weight. The result is a planning estimate, not a ration plan.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to feed a pig per day?
- At the calculator's UK starting price of £0.60 per kg, a grower pig eating about 1.5 kg a day costs roughly £0.90 a day. A weaner costs about a third of that and a finisher about £1.50. Use your own price for a real figure.
- Why is the result different from what I actually spend?
- Intake varies with breed, age, season and how much the animals forage, and this tool uses one typical figure per species. Treats, waste and pasture are not modelled. Treat it as a budgeting starting point.
- What feed price should I enter?
- Whatever you pay. In the UK enter a price per kg; in the US, a price per lb (a 50 lb bag price divided by 50). Switch region in the header and the units change to match.
- Does it include hay or pasture?
- It uses each species' typical total intake as labelled under the result. For horses that combines forage and concentrate. Grazing reduces what you buy, so if you rely on pasture your real spend will be lower.
Related
Want to see what keeping a backyard animal is actually like?
Try My Backyard — a simple interactive simulation. Adopt one, feed it, play with it, keep its bedding clean, and see how it gets on.
Play My Backyard →