Feed Tracking
There are two separate steps, and only the second produces a feed conversion ratio. Buying feed records what you spent. Allocating it says which animals ate it over which dates — and because FCR is feed divided by weight gained, OmniBurrow needs that link before it can tell you anything beyond a cost total.
Record feed purchases
A feed purchase is an expense like any other: record it in the finance ledger under the Feed category.
Better, link the purchase to an inventory item as you record it. One entry then both books the cost and puts the bag on your shelf, and the item can carry pounds per unit and cost per unit — two numbers that let OmniBurrow turn stock movements into feed weight and cost automatically.
A purchase on its own tells you what feed cost you. It does not tell you what it bought you.
Allocate feed
An allocation says: this much feed, to these animals, over this period.
- Web App
- Mobile App
Feed lives under Dashboard → Analytics → Feed. Add an allocation from there.
Open Feed and add an allocation. This works offline.
An allocation records:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Target | A rabbit, a litter, or a grow-out group |
| Quantity in pounds | Required |
| Period start and end | Both required — the window the feed covers |
| Cost | Optional, but needed for cost-per-pound |
| Inventory item | Optional link to the stock it came from |
| Notes | Optional |
The period matters as much as the quantity. Analytics counts an allocation whose period overlaps the window you are looking at, and weighs that feed against the gain those animals made inside the same window.
Feed schedules
A feed schedule is a standing instruction for one rabbit: this item, this much per feeding, this many feedings a day, from this date.
Schedules do something the rest of feed tracking does not — they draw down your inventory automatically. Once a day OmniBurrow works out each scheduled item's daily usage (amount per feeding × feedings per day), multiplies by the days since it last ran, and takes that much off your stock, stopping at whatever is actually left.
Those automatic movements count as feed in your conversion figures too, provided the inventory item has pounds per unit set so they can be converted to weight.
Worth noting the contrast with the medicine box: medication quantities are manual and never decrement, while feed on a schedule comes down by itself.
What allocation unlocks
With feed allocated and weights recorded, Feed & FCR reports:
- Total feed — allocations plus the automatic schedule draw-downs.
- Total feed cost — allocation costs plus stock movements valued at cost per unit.
- Average cost per pound of feed.
- FCR — pounds of feed divided by pounds of gain.
Gain is measured per target from the first and last weight recorded inside the window. A target with fewer than two weights, or one that did not gain, contributes nothing to the gain side.
Feed you bought but never allocated shows up as cost and nothing else — there is no conversion figure without a link between feed and animals. Two more ways to end up with a blank FCR:
- Weighing once. Gain needs at least two weights on the same target inside the window.
- A grow-out group with no litter attached. Group allocations are attributed to the group's litter for the gain calculation, so a group not linked to one contributes feed and cost but never gain. If you want FCR out of a group, link it to its litter — see Grow-Out Groups.
Feed and inventory
The link between feed and stock is worth setting up once:
- Pounds per unit on an inventory item lets a 50 lb bag count as 50 lb of feed rather than "one bag". Without it, automatic movements cannot be converted to weight.
- Cost per unit does the same for money. Without it, those movements carry no cost.
The feed dashboard reports how many movements are missing each, which is the quickest way to find an item you set up in a hurry.