Free dairy farm calculators for
cattle & buffalo herds.

Water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) have a distinct biological gestation length of 305–315 days (average 310 days), whereas cattle (Bos taurus / Bos indicus) average about 280–285 days (282 days is the usual planning figure, and Zebu breeds such as Sahiwal often run a few days longer). The gestation calculator above uses the species-specific length to set the dry-off, close-up and expected calving dates.

Buffalo milk typically carries 6.5% to 8.5% fat and 9.5% to 10.5% SNF, so where milk is paid on fat or solids it usually fetches a higher price per liter than cow milk. Daily yield is lower (often 10–16 L for a good buffalo against 25–35 L for a high-yielding Holstein), so enter your real price and yield: the higher price can still give a competitive IOFC on a balanced ration.

There is no single IOFC figure that suits every farm, because milk and feed prices differ by country and season. A common rule of thumb is to keep feed cost at around half of milk revenue or less. If feed takes more than about 60% of milk revenue, review the ration and your feed prices. Track your own IOFC per animal month by month.

It depends mainly on body weight and milk yield. Milking cows commonly eat about 2.5% to 4% of their body weight in dry matter a day, with higher-yielding cows at the top of that range. For example, the DMI estimator above gives about 18 kg (40 lb) of dry matter a day for a 600 kg (1,320 lb) cow giving 25 L (6.6 gal) of milk at 3.8% fat.