Learn how to create rations and ration versions in this video, and how to arrange them into a feed order if you want to do that.
Time: 6:58
Let's go ahead and create a new ration in Fusion. To do this, navigate to the Fusion Setup Assistant, select the "Rations" section, and click the "Add A New Ration" button. Alternatively, if you're in the Fusion Feed menu bar, you can access it through the Rations menu.
First, provide a name for the ration. This name will identify the ration, even if its formulation changes over time, making things simpler for your feed crew. Leave the Location field set to "Any Location" if you want to use this ration at all your yards. However, if you want different rations for each yard, choose the appropriate location here. Also, leave the "Currently Used" field checked for now. You can uncheck it in the future if you retire this ration, ensuring it doesn't show up as an option for feeding anymore.
If you prefer to feed with multiple passes in your yard, you can set that up. For example, you might want a 40% first pass and a 60% second pass. Fusion allows you to have a different number of passes for each ration if needed. The system will handle all the calculations when feeding cattle.
Now, let's focus on the ration versions. As you know, ration formulations tend to change over time. You will create a new "version" of the ration when this happens. This way, you don't lose any historical data and can always go back to view old formulations. In Fusion, a version is tied to a date, which means you can have at most one version per day. It also allows you to create a version with a future date, and Fusion will automatically start using the new formulation on that day, without requiring the feed crew to be aware of it.
Since this is a new ration, it only has one version, with today's date, which is perfectly fine. Let's configure some properties for this ration version before we dive into the actual formulation. First up is the "Intended Sex" field. If you set this to something other than "Mixed," Fusion will warn the person making bunk calls if they select a ration intended for a different sex than what is in the pen.
Now, let's take a look at the Density field, which is crucial for Fusion to calculate the maximum load of this particular ration version on a given truck. Just because a truck can handle, for instance, 15,000 lbs doesn't mean that 15,000 lbs of a very bulky ration will fit in the truck box. Naturally, you might not know the density value for each ration version off the top of your head. No worries, we've provided a calculator to assist with that. Click the "Calculate Density" button and then select a truck where you have a good idea of the maximum load size for this ration. Enter that load size and click "OK." Fusion will calculate the density value for you.
Next up is the "Optimum Mixing" field. Depending on how you've set up the Mix Timer asset in all your trucks, you'll either enter the number of seconds or the number of revolutions that this ration version should mix for. The Mix Timer asset can be found in the Physical Computer Assets window in each truck and should be configured the same way for all trucks. Fusion can then help ensure that each load is mixed correctly.
Lastly, we have the "Ration Basis" field, where you choose between a dry matter and an as-fed basis formulation. Although Fusion can handle either type, we strongly recommend entering dry matter-based formulas. There are several advantages to this, including not having to adjust the ration formulation every time the dry matter percentage of one of the ingredients changes—possibly several times a week!
Now, let's move on to entering the formulation for this ration. To add ingredients, click the plus button and choose the ingredient. Then enter its percentage of the formula. Let's repeat this process for Silage. If you happen to make a mistake with a percentage, simply double-click on the one you want to change and enter the correct value. You can also right-click on an ingredient name to edit it. Additionally, you can rearrange the order of ingredients by dragging them. This order is important because Fusion will prompt the feed crew to add the ingredients to the load in the listed order.
Now, let's add a few micros, which is done the same way as adding macros. If you have a supported micro machine, Fusion will communicate with it to batch the micros when creating a load. If you or your nutritionist need assistance converting quantity-based values to percentage-based values for the micros, please refer to the blog post linked in the Related Content area below this video.
At this point, we've added all the ingredients, but the formulation doesn't quite add up to 100%. To rectify this, select Silage and click the "Make 100%" button. Now, all that's left to do is click "Save" to complete the creation of the ration.
Before we wrap up this topic, let's explore a few more things. You can edit this ration by opening the Rations list window and double-clicking the ration. It's important to note that you can no longer modify anything about the ration version. This is a good! When the formulation changes, you should create a new ration version instead of editing the current one. However, if you genuinely need to fix an error in the selected ration version, you can click the lock button to temporarily unlock it and make your changes. Existing loads based on this ration version won't be affected, but new loads will be.
Typically, you'll be creating a new ration version. You can click the plus button to create a new one from scratch. However, a simpler approach is to copy an existing ration version, adjust the version date as needed, and then make modifications to the ration version properties and formulation from there. Save it when you're done.
One more thing to consider: Fusion uses an algorithm to intelligently suggest the next ration to be fed throughout the day. Part of this algorithm is based on the drive order of the pens, which suggests rations closer to the beginning of the drive order. Some yards prefer to feed specific rations first, regardless of how far the feed truck must travel. If that applies to your yard, click the "Set Ration Order" button in the Rations list and ensure the checkbox at the bottom of the window is turned on. Then, arrange the rations in the desired order and save.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to click the "Help" button in each window or contact our support team for assistance.
