How Throf raises farm profit: cost per head and net profit

Throf helps raise farm profit by bringing expenses, sales, feed and weights into one place and turning them into two clear numbers: cost per head and net profit. Knowing what each animal cost, you sell above that cost and see where money leaks: extra feed, mortality, or fattening that ran too long.

Most breeders know what a lamb fetches at the market; far fewer know what that lamb really cost. The gap between the two is the real profit. Below we explain how the data rolls up in Throf, walk through an illustrative example with made-up figures, and list the decisions that change once the number is in front of you.

What goes into cost per head?

Cost per head is everything you spent on the herd over a period divided by the number of animals. The main items on a Saudi farm:

For the calculation itself step by step, read how to calculate cost per head, or try the cost per head calculator.

How the numbers roll up in Throf

1. Expenses: every feed bill, treatment or wage is recorded when it happens from your phone, instead of piling up receipts until month-end.
2. Feed and stock: meals are logged and feed stock is followed in kilograms, so you see what the herd eats and link it to spending.
3. Weights: each animal's weight history, entered by hand or sent by the smart scale that reads the tag, shows whether growth is worth the feed.
4. Health and losses: sick, isolated and dead animals are recorded, so you see what each loss means for the rest of the herd.
5. Sales: each sale is recorded with its amount.
6. Dashboard: Throf shows expenses, sales, cost per head and net profit on the finance dashboard, with charts.

If the herd is jointly owned, the investors and partners module keeps each person's ownership share and profit split. See livestock investment partners.

Illustrative example: a 50-lamb fattening batch

The figures below are made up for illustration only. They are not results from a real farm or market averages. Replace them with your own.

A breeder buys 50 lambs to fatten for about 90 days and records everything in Throf:

• Cost per head = 44,000 ÷ 50 = SAR 880.
• Two lambs died during the batch, so 48 were sold at an average of SAR 1,050 = SAR 50,400.
• Net profit = 50,400 − 44,000 = SAR 6,400.
• But note: cost per head sold = 44,000 ÷ 48 = about SAR 917, because the cost of the two dead lambs is spread over the rest.

What this example shows

• Mortality raises the cost of every surviving animal. Two losses added about SAR 37 to each lamb sold in this example. Read the cost of livestock mortality.
• Feed is the biggest item after purchase. If the weight history shows some lambs have stopped gaining, every extra day eats into profit.
• Your floor price is known in advance. In this example, anything under about SAR 917 per head is a loss, and you know it before you negotiate.

Decisions that change once you see the number

• When to sell? From weights and feed you see when daily gain stops covering daily feed cost, and sell at the right time instead of waiting. Read about feed conversion ratio.
• At what price? Your price starts from your cost per head, not your neighbour's price. With sale by weight in Saudi pens and public markets since 1 Muharram 1447 AH, knowing each animal's weight on the farm helps you value it before the market.
• Where to save? Seeing the feed line month by month lets you compare rations and suppliers. Read how to reduce feed costs.
• Which ewes to keep? A ewe that twins regularly has a very different cost per lamb from one that stays open, and each ewe's file shows it.
• Should you expand? Real net profit, not a feeling, answers that question.

How to read the finance dashboard each month

Set yourself a fixed half hour at the start of each month, open the finance dashboard in Throf and ask:

1. Has cost per head changed since last month? If it rose, look for the reason line by line: feed, treatments or losses.
2. What share of spending is feed? If feed takes most of it, review the ration and the meals recorded.
3. How much did I sell, and at what price? Compare the average sale price with the cost per head sold.
4. Is there enough in the store? Feed stock in kilograms tells you when the next purchase is due.
5. Which group costs the most? When breeding ewes, fattening batches and rams are separate groups, you see where the money really goes.

After three or four months of this review you have a clear picture of the farm: the most expensive seasons, the most profitable batches, and the decisions that raised or lowered profit.

Mistakes that distort cost per head

• Recording only the big feed bills and forgetting small, frequent purchases.
• Leaving out labour or grazing costs because "the worker is there anyway".
• Dropping dead animals from the calculation, which makes cost look lower than it is.
• Mixing household or camel costs with the sheep fattening batch instead of separating groups.
• Calculating once a year instead of following the numbers monthly.

Start tracking cost per head on your farm

Register your herd in Throf free for up to 25 head and start recording expenses and sales today. For larger herds, subscribe online without logging in; prices are shown including VAT, and the subscription includes Excel herd import and worker training. Plan details are on the online purchase page, and coupon THROF15 gives 15% off.