Understanding Your Feed Bag Label — What the Numbers Mean

Every feed bag carries a label full of numbers and abbreviations — but most farmers were never actually shown what they mean. Here's a plain-language guide to reading one properly.

Crude Protein (CP%)

This tells you how much protein the feed contains. Higher-yielding animals and young growing calves need higher protein feeds. A calf starter typically runs higher in CP% than a maintenance feed for a dry cow, because a growing calf's body has different priorities than a resting one.

TDN — Total Digestible Nutrients

TDN is essentially the energy value of the feed — how much usable energy the animal's body can extract from it. Higher-yielding cows need higher-TDN feeds because milk production is energy-hungry. This is one of the most important numbers on the label for matching feed to milk yield.

Crude Fibre

Fibre content affects digestion speed and rumen health. Concentrate feeds are naturally lower in fibre than fodder — that's expected, since concentrate is meant to supplement fodder, not replace it. This is exactly why a compound feed should always be fed alongside dry or green fodder, never as the animal's only feed source.

Ash / Mineral content

This reflects the mineral content built into the formulation. A well-formulated feed includes minerals as part of the base recipe, but a separate mineral mixture is still usually recommended alongside it, especially for fertility and bone health.

Why this matters

Two feed bags can look similar on the outside but have quite different numbers inside. When comparing feeds — whether GOKA or any other brand — look past the packaging and compare the actual CP% and TDN figures against what your animal's milk yield or growth stage actually requires. Our team is always happy to walk through a label with you and match it to your animal's needs — call or WhatsApp us anytime.

Not sure which GOKA feed matches your animal? Try our free Feed Calculator for an instant recommendation based on your animal's actual yield and stage.