Overview

The area marked in red in the image below is the tag column of the Feed Constraints grid of the ration record form. Note that the tag field of each concentrate is marked.

Here's What You Do ...

To mark a feed's tag field just click on the field and press any key. To remove the mark, click on the field and press Ctrl Z.

Here's How It Works ...

When the tag field of a feed item is marked, Formulate2 changes its cost objective. All marked feed items are considered as a "cost group" and the objective of the optimizer becomes to minimize the cost of the "tagged" group.

In the scenario above, all of the concentrate feeds have been marked. Performing an optimization with these feeds marked will minimize the cost of concentrates. The net effect will be to maximize the use of forage in the ration. The marked items will be included only when nutrient constraints cannot be met without them. If included, they will be used at the lowest level possible.

Online Tutorials

• Working with Targeted Cost Groups - How to focus the cost objective of the optimization engine on specific groups of feeds. (this tutorial may be downloaded and saved for futrue use - has voice-over narration - requires active internet access 3.89 MB EXE)