Computer Formulation Observations and Caveats

Abstract

When formulating rations by linear programming, a technical assumption is made that the nutrient contents of ingredients are known exactly. Ignoring this assumption by making margin f safety adjustments for nutrient variability in linear programming databases can lead to unexpected results such as high cost rations, higher than requested nutrient amounts in the finished feed, and misleading nutrient levels in computer printouts. These problems can be overcome with stochastic non-linear programming which can be used for formulating rations with variable nutrient inputs.