Lamb & Goat Kid Days to Market Calculator (ADG, Feed & Margin)
From a lamb or goat kid's current weight, target market weight and average daily gain, get the days and date to market, the feed or forage needed on a given feed conversion, feed cost, cost of gain per pound, and the sale value and margin at your price per cwt or per head — for grass-finished, creep-fed or grain-finished animals.
How it works
days = (target − current) ÷ ADG · feed per head = gain × feed conversion · cost of gain = feed cost ÷ pounds gained · sale value = target weight × price per cwt ÷ 100 · margin = sale − start value − feed · breakeven $/cwt = (start value + feed) ÷ target × 100
Finishing lambs and kids is arithmetic on three numbers: how much weight must be added, how fast the animal can add it under the feeding system, and how many pounds of feed each pound of gain costs. Pasture gains are slowest but cheapest per day; grain roughly doubles the rate but at five or six pounds of feed per pound gained, and because the animal eats to maintain itself every day regardless, slower gain always means a higher total feed bill for the same finished weight. The margin then rests on the spread between what the animal was worth at the start and what its finished weight fetches, which is why the breakeven price per hundredweight is the number a feeder watches.
Worked example
Twenty 60-lb lambs finished on grain at 0.80 lb a day reach 120 lb in 75 days — about 330 lb of feed each (4.4 lb a day) at 5.5:1, or 3.3 tons for the group, roughly $1,056 and a feed cost of gain of $0.88 a pound. Each sells for $288 at $240/cwt; after the $150 start value and $53 of feed the margin is about $85 a head, and the breakeven sale price is $169/cwt. On pasture alone at 0.45 lb a day the same lambs would need 134 days.
Frequently asked questions
What is a realistic ADG for lambs?
Well-managed pasture lambs gain 0.35–0.55 lb/day, creep-fed or supplemented lambs 0.5–0.7, and drylot grain finishing 0.7–1.0 for terminal-sire crosses. Meat goat kids run roughly two-thirds of those figures.
Why is my feed conversion worse than 6:1?
Low-energy or high-fibre rations, cold weather, parasites, poor bunk management (waste) and heavier, fatter animals all raise it; conversion worsens as animals approach finish, so lambs taken well past their frame's finish weight are costly.
Related calculators
Livestock planning figures from extension services and typical small-farm practice. Breeds, genetics, forage quality, climate and management change every number here — use the results as a starting budget and adjust to your own records, veterinarian and local regulations.