Cows per Acreage

[tg]

Is there a rule of thumb as to how many cows you can raise on an Acre of land.

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Is there a rule of thumb as to how many cows you can raise on an Acre of land.

It varies widely from region to region, and depends also on how the land is cared for.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Is there a rule of thumb as to how many cows you can raise on an Acre of land.

It varies widely from region to region, and depends also on how the land is cared for.

Right on Willow heck I can run a pair per acre go 200 miles west those poor boys need 10 acres per cow.

 

[Rafter E]

We run 100 on over 2000, rough land...

 

[Plowboy_TX]

In my neck of the woods its about 1 cow per 2 acres. But most of my
chunk of Heaven is covered with Coastal Bermuda so i'm gonna try for
1.25 cows per 2 acres. (soon as I figure out the .25 part)

 

[denoginnizer]

I run one cow/calf to every 6 acres. I have a lot of briars and dont like to feed much hay during the winter.

 

[TheBullLady]

Here in central Texas, average is 3-5 acres per cow calf unit.

Like everyone else mentioned.. LOTS of variables will influnece that figure!

Check with your county extension agent.. they should be able to tell you.

 

[dun]

One variable is how much of the year you're talking about. Some folks only consideer the normal grazing season for their area. If you generally feed hay 6 months of the year becasue of weather you can probably support more cows on fewer acres. But if you graze year round the number may be significantly less.

dun

 

[Farminlund]

One variable is how much of the year you're talking about. Some folks only consideer the normal grazing season for their area. If you generally feed hay 6 months of the year becasue of weather you can probably support more cows on fewer acres. But if you graze year round the number may be significantly less.

dun

Like you say, much depends on how you handle winter feeding. If you buy your feed, more cows per acre can be accommodated. If your winter feed is hay cut off your farm acres or you winter graze, the number is significanly less. Know of folk that do it both ways with many buying some & supplying some from their land.

 

[lancemart]

In Rhode Island it is 1 cow per acre

 

[endebt]

here the rule of thumb is 6 ac. per cow on unimproved land . if you fer. or spray for weeds you can run more cows. we are trying to get 3 ac. per cow. so far it is working . just as long as we get rain every now and then.

 

[flbullrider]

Check with your state department of Ag's local county extension office - they have all the figures. They'll tell ya how many animal units per acre the area should sustain.

An animal unit is loosely defined as one 1,000 pound cow. A 1,500 pound cow is 1.5 AU.

Some states have a "chart", something like:

Horse: 2 AU
Slaughter/feeder cattle: 1AU
Milked cow: 1.5AU
Sheep: 0.1AU etc.

An animal unit month is how much forage one animal will need in a month. A 1,000 pound beef cow requires approximately 26 lbs of dry forage per day, for a total of 780lbs per month.

In our area of Florida, the Department of Agriculture publishes the figure at 4 acres per AU, one of the lowest in the country.

By comparison, Calhan/Yoder/Rush area of Colorado, is 10 ac/AU.

This doesn't mean you can only have 1 cow on 10 acres. It just means you'll have to supplement with hay/grain for each additional head you have.

I'd recommend the CowCulator from Oklahoma State University to run some numbers. You can get it at http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/exten/cowculator

You'll need Microsoft Excel to run it.

Mike Bishop - http://www.flbullrider.com

 

[memanpa]

rule of thumb? i think not!
if i were to try and run pairs at my place in az. (if lucky 1 pair per 100 acres ) at the same ratio as i figure i can run in my place in ok (1 pair per 8.5)
the ones in az would starve!!!!
location location location
what are the guys round you running?? might see and compare!!!

 

[flbullrider]

forgot to mention in my previous post, make sure ya have enough land for some kind of grazing management scheme OTHER than set stocking (in my opinon for smaller operations with high head density)

I.e., if ya have 30 acres, don't turn em out on the whole 30 - crossfence in at least 1/3rd's - 10 acre paddocks, and rotate through on some cycle (30 days perhaps).

Otherwise, your pasture will look like a reel mower went through it after the season and you'll spend a lot of time and money reseeding and watering. While you can't use the land.

Mike Bishop - http://www.flbullrider.com

 

[msscamp]

If I remember it correctly, for the area I live in, it takes somewhere around 33 acres of unirrigated pasture/cow. I'm fairly certain I have it right, but will double check and correct as necessary.

 

[J7]

My location is 1 cow per acre if irrigated and 1 cow per 10 acres if not irrigated. This is 45 minutes north of Sacramento.

 

[dcara]

Below is a link to a series of articles on grazing issues. There is one specifically for "estimateing stocking rate".

http://www.foothill.net/~ringram/gzoption.htm

 

[Bama]

Good information. Thanks for posting

 

[tg]

forgot to mention in my previous post, make sure ya have enough land for some kind of grazing management scheme OTHER than set stocking (in my opinon for smaller operations with high head density)

I.e., if ya have 30 acres, don't turn em out on the whole 30 - crossfence in at least 1/3rd's - 10 acre paddocks, and rotate through on some cycle (30 days perhaps).

Otherwise, your pasture will look like a reel mower went through it after the season and you'll spend a lot of time and money reseeding and watering. While you can't use the land.

Mike Bishop - http://www.flbullrider.com

I wish you would have been around a year ago LOL I found that out the hard way I finished my crossfence last week. so we will see how it turns out thanks a great deal all.

 

[flbullrider]

I wish you would have been around a year ago LOL I found that out the hard way I finished my crossfence last week. so we will see how it turns out thanks a great deal all.

It'll sneak up on ya too - I live in the city so I have leases for grazing. I rolled out there in the fall last year and just about passed out - nothin' but sand and a couple blades left. Couple weeks before everything looked OK - not great but OK.

Another thing to watch for is if you're leasing a pasture, you're probably responsible for reseeding and getting the forage back to the state it was in when the lease started. My leases have such a provision.

Mike Bishop - http://www.flbullrider.com