2.5 cows per acre

[Son of Butch]

The Netherlands has proposed a law requiring .40 acres of grassland pasture per animal unit = 2.5 cows per acre max.
It's intended goal is to get Dutch farmers to convert more crop land to grassland pastures to combat 'global warming.'

 

[Otha]

So a dairy farmer has to have that much grassland for his dairy herd too or just beef producers?

 

[Son of Butch]

So a dairy farmer has to have that much grassland for his dairy herd too or just beef producers?

animal unit =a cow is a cow
Dairy farmer could circumvent by planting fewer row crop acres and more alfalfa/grass acres.

 

[M.Magis]

The real intent is to get more farmers to give up and sell their land.

 

[Travlr]

The Netherlands has proposed a law requiring .40 acres of grassland pasture per animal unit = 2.5 cows per acre max.
It's intended goal is to get Dutch farmers to convert more crop land to grassland pastures to combat 'global warming.'

Overall I believe the recent changes in policy in the Netherlands is to reduce livestock numbers. They have made some real efforts to reduce manure. They also have a large area devoted to a nature preserve where they have stocked wild animals considered to be endemic to Europe. There was a mass die-off due to overstocking and extreme weather and they let the animals succumb to natural consequences rather than feed them.

Some of the things they are doing are a little out there. Reminds me of what is happening in Nepal with the organic fertilizer ideas that have crashed their crop production.

 

[Son of Butch]

The real intent is to get more farmers to give up and sell their land.

Why?
To who? What do they want to do with the land?

 

[M.Magis]

Why?
To who? What do they want to do with the land?

No one specific. They want to end livestock farming itself.

 

[Dave]

2.5 cows per acre is roughly where the manure will balance on good productive ground. Washington State has a law called dairy nutrient management act. AKA manure plan. All the dairies are required to have one. My main job for years was writing those plans. On good productive grass that is about the limit to balance. Some farms have that ground. Some lease land from others to apply the manure.

 

[Buck Randall]

2.5 cows per acre is roughly where the manure will balance on good productive ground. Washington State has a law called dairy nutrient management act. AKA manure plan. All the dairies are required to have one. My main job for years was writing those plans. On good productive grass that is about the limit to balance. Some farms have that ground. Some lease land from others to apply the manure.

Wisconsin has similar rules. Contamination of groundwater is a serious problem in some areas that have a high water table and shallow soil. I would imagine the Netherlands faces similar problems.

 

[Son of Butch]

No one specific. They want to end livestock farming itself.

But they want the land sold? For what purpose?

 

[Travlr]

From what I've been told the Netherlands is the breadbasket of Europe. Both plant and livestock agriculture. But for some reason they are trying to diminish their livestock industry. I talked to a guy from the Netherlands and he was all up in arms about manure and excess nitrogen. He wasn't a farmer, but he was invested in the idea that livestock were a problem.

 

[Warren Allison]

Even here in the northern half of Georgia, with good rain and pastures fertilized and limed to specs, you couldn't have 2.5 cows per acre. Unless you wanted to raise them in a dirt lot and feed them year round.

 

[M.Magis]

But they want the land sold? For what purpose?

To get it out of the hands of farmers who could potentially go back to raising livestock. If they happen to create a situation where there is excess property on the open market which drives land prices down for rich politicians to buy up, it's a bonus.

 

[PremierLonghorns]

No one specific. They want to end livestock farming itself.

Then let them drink Wood Milk and eat Gravel Beef. Bon Appetite Netherlands Deep State! LOL

 

[Travlr]

Then let them drink Wood Milk and eat Gravel Beef. Bon Appetite Netherlands Deep State! LOL

Urban people being sold beliefs based in Vegan/animal rights propaganda. And then it becomes popular opinion and the urban majority use it to force laws on those that feed them.

But some of it is our own fault. We don't counter the ignorance with anything. We stay silent instead of providing answers to the ignorance. Even Ag schools allow the ignorance to continue instead of informing those that listen to the misinformation.

 

[Son of Butch]

Then let them drink Wood Milk and eat Gravel Beef. Bon Appetite Netherlands Deep State! LOL

Ending livestock production has never been the stated purpose by the government of the Netherlands.
Why do you immediately jump on conspiracy theory band wagons?
Why wouldn't you say... let them import American cheese and eat American Beef?

 

[Travlr]

Ending livestock production has never been the stated purpose by the government of the Netherlands.
Why do you immediately jump on conspiracy theory band wagons?
Why wouldn't you say... let them import American cheese and eat American Beef?

I don't see it as much of a stretch to recognize that some of these unstated legalities that are foisted off on us, (agriculture) may have motives beyond what is openly expressed. Especially when people creating publicly consumed misinformation are making the rules.

Conspiracies are just theories until someone flies a plane into a tall building. There's nothing wrong with weighing what's going on in the world and anticipating where things are going. A lot of conspiracy theories have a grain of truth in them. The trick is to sort the legitimate from the hysteria.

Look at what's happened in Sri Lanka with the chemical fertilizer ban. This kind of lunacy is spreading. Popular opinion isn't reality, but urban people that make the rules are a majority.

 

[noltrh]

Even here in the northern half of Georgia, with good rain and pastures fertilized and limed top specs, you couldnt have 2.5 cows per acre. Unless you wanted to raise them in a dirt lot and feed them year round.

Same here in Texas. Can run 3 acres to the cow with fertilizer until winter or a drought. I run a cow to seven acres and still times of feeding.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Even here in the northern half of Georgia, with good rain and pastures fertilized and limed to specs, you couldn't have 2.5 cows per acre. Unless you wanted to raise them in a dirt lot and feed them year round.

OK, I'm laughing, but that is only because I know exactly what you are saying. Here in SE Ohio, 2.5 acres are required per AU (Animal Unit), which is 1,000 lbs of live animal and a typical cow here averages 1,200 - 1,250 lbs, so a single cow = about 1.2 to 1.25 AUs, on average. So about 3 acres, on average, per average cow. Forage production per acre has considerable variation across Ohio but I don't ever recall seeing a soil type that can support more than 1 cow to 1.6 acres on a sustainable basis. I've also seen the other extreme where it takes 5 acres to support a single cow. Grazing carrying capacity (sustainable) varies greatly from state to state across the whole county. I don't recall the carrying capacity of pasture in Georgia, but I know it is considerably better than here in Ohio. Is it 1 - 1.5 cows per acre, with good, proper pasture management?

Conversely, has anyone ever heard the term "A 10-80 cow?" Its an illustration used to describe the type of cow and how it had to graze in the SW US. 10-80 is shorthand for a cow that has a mouth 10 feet wide and has to travel at 80 miles per hour eating in order for it to gain weight and be profitable.

 

[Travlr]

Here in SE Ohio, 2.5 acres are required per AU (Animal Unit), which is 1,000 lbs of live animal and a typical cow here averages 1,200 - 1,250 lbs, so a single cow = about 1.2 to 1.25 AUs, on average. So about 3 acres, on average, per average cow. I've also seen the other extreme where it takes 5 acres to support a single cow.
Conversely, has anyone ever heard the term "A 10-80 cow?" Its an illustration used to describe the type of cow and how it had to graze in the SW US. 10-80 is shorthand for a cow that has a mouth 10 feet wide and has to travel at 80 miles per hour eating in order for it to gain weight and be profitable.

I've never seen a 10-80 cow but I've seen a lot of BLM lease that barely supports a unit on a hundred acres. Those leases much be pretty cheap to make that work. The people that use those leases like cattle with leg on them because they need to travel.