The livestock sector is one of the main agricultural sectors which has been existing in Ukraine from the earliest times. This sphere of activity is very important for the company. NIBULON’s livestock sector is concentrated in 8 branches of Vinnytsya, Zhytomyr, Mykolayiv, Khmel’nyts’kyy regions and numbers 11 thousand heads of cattle and pigs, including above 6100 heads of pigs and almost 4900 heads of cattle (Black-and-White Ukrainian diary breed, Red-and-White Ukrainian diary breed, Angler breed, Simmental breed). Besides production effect, the livestock sector development has a considerable social effect – at present NIBULON has created 255 workplaces to develop the sector. The company’s specialists constantly search for new ways to develop and modernize the sector, in particular, to improve the animal diet constantly (fodder selection which corresponds to the feeding standard for a definite period of time). Use of a balanced diet ensures high productivity of animals with the least fodder consumption. One of the most effective methods to improve diet is to use mixed fodder – cleaned, homogeneous mixtures, milled fodder prepared according to the science-based recipes and intended for definite types and growth groups of animals. NIBULON’s livestock branches have a long-term experience in making and using the above mentioned mixtures. While using mixed fodder, the company’s specialists apply an individual approach to every type of animals, their age and breed taking into account qualitative characteristics of mixtures (percentage composition of protein, cellulose, etc). The mixed fodder is produced by NIBULON at its own “Vradiyivs’ka” branch (Mykolayiv region). The production is mechanized and automated; control of production processes is performed due to the appropriate software. Thus, the human factor is excluded maximally, accuracy of proportions and technology compliance were increased. The use of mixtures opens wide prospects for NIBULON’s livestock branches allowing them to get a balanced diet for every type of animals. Consequently, NIBULON continues to develop and optimize its own mixed fodder milling. The company has decided to purchase specialized software – the software package “Fodder Optima Expert” to calculate and optimize recipes of mixtures. The given package consists of three modules (“Mixed fodder”, “Diet”, “Premix”) and is intended for an optimal program formation to feed all types and groups of animals. Taking into account available agricultural raw material, the program generates an optimal recipe where, on the one hand, nutritional value completely corresponds to the specified requirements and, on the other hand, its cost is minimized. According to the software developers, its use allows to reduce fodder cost by 5-7%. The main tasks of the package are: 1) optimization of recipes of mixed fodder and protein-vitamin-mineral concentrates for all types and groups of animals; 2) calculation of optimal daily diets for the animals taking into account own and purchased fodder; 3) calculation of premix recipes (the previously mixed components to be used in microquantity) for all types of animals. The software use will qualitatively improve and optimize work of NIBULON’s livestock branches. The use of complete and accurate database of fodder nutritiousness and feeding standards will allow NIBULON’s specialists: 1) to correct exchange energy during feeding according to the actual values of fodder nutritiousness (protein, fat, cellulose, starch, sugar, ash, etc.) and to adjust amino acid structure of raw material according to the actual content of crude protein; 2) to simulate activity of enzymatic agents in the animal organism and to prove economic suitability of their usage; 3) to get recipes within the specified price range keeping their balanced state; 4) to plan the amount of fodder production and to make raw material applications; 5) to catalogue data about actual nutritiousness of all the components of recipes in the archives having the opportunity to analyze it at any time.
