07/12/2025
𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐞" 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲
Imagine your animal is like a worker earning a daily wage. The food they eat is the money they earn.
Before that worker can put any money into a savings account (which represents growth, meat, or milk), 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 first.
☛ The Bills (Maintenance): These are the costs just to stay alive—breathing, keeping the body warm, digesting food, and walking around.
☛ The Savings (Growth): This is the money left over after the bills are paid.
If the animal eats just enough food to pay the bills, they will look active and happy, but they will have zero "savings" left over. They won't get bigger.
𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐄𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭:
1. They are "Burning Money" to Stay Warm or Cool
If an animal is stressed, too cold, or too hot, their "bills" go up.
☛ Example: If a chicken is shivering from the cold, it burns up all its food energy just to stop freezing. It’s like paying a huge heating bill in winter—you spend all your money just to stay comfortable, with nothing left to save.
2. The Food is "Fake Money" (Low Quality)
Sometimes, feed looks filling but has no value.
☛ Example: If you eat a giant bowl of popcorn, your stomach feels full, but you get very little nutrition. If you feed animals dry, brown grass or fillers that are low in protein and energy, their bellies are full, but their muscles are starving. They are eating, but they aren't getting the building blocks needed to grow.
3. Someone Else is Stealing the Wages (Parasites)
If your animal has worms or internal parasites, the worms eat the food before the animal does.
☛ Example: It is like the worker getting their paycheck, but a thief steals half of it immediately. The animal eats the food, but the worms take the energy. The animal stays thin despite a full trough.
A Simple Check for Farmers
To fix this, you need to ensure the Input (Feed) is greater than the Output (Work/Stress).
☛ Check the Feed Quality: Are you feeding them "popcorn" (fillers) or "steak" (high protein/energy)?
☛ Check the Environment: Are they wasting energy shivering, running from predators, or fighting other animals?
☛ Check for Thieves: When was the last time you dewormed them?
