rat is not a bad year. like all years, it has good and bad aspects.
in order to understand the reading, one has to look into the philosophies behind yin and yang, as well as the interconnections of the five elements, and the influence that each element has on each other. ba zi mi ji is the system that uses feng shui, sometimes called chinese geomancy, in life as well as the environment
generally speaking, the year pillar (the forth or right-most column) is your relationship with your grandparents, ancestors, and society; the month pillar (the third column) is the relationship with parents and peers; the day pillar (the second column) is the inner self and marriage; and the hour pillar (the leftmost) deals with children, siblings, and endings.
so according to the calculator, the symbol of your daughters inner self and marriage potential is that of the rat. people with the day pillar of rat, dragon, or monkey get along really well.
the elements form a grid which all have an influential affect on each other, with the cycle of elemental dominance modified by each yin and yang aspect, as well as how close to each other they are in the grid, and the frequency of appearance. an ideal chart would have nearly equal proportions of every element and yin/yang appearance in the grid.
some systems of calculation include a hidden pillar or fifth pillar called the life pillar.
the eight luck pillars are supposed to describe what periods of time during the cycle of years have complementary or opposing flows of energy which is supposed to indicate periods of difficulty or ease in one's life.
taking everything into account, one can bring in certain colors, elements, and other things associated with each animal and element to balance out characteristics in one's own chart that are too strong, or are lacking. the idea is to achieve harmony and balance.
you can even compare compatibility between people by comparing elements of both charts and getting clues how to approach and work with a certain individual.
so far i have not been able to find anywhere that will give an interpretation without requiring money. but maybe someone with better search-fu might be able to find something. ^^
