head of cattle per acre

[Cajun Lady]

I'm not sure how many head I'll have, 2 bulls and the rest cow/calf pairs (maybe 100-150 at the most including calves) of likely angus or angus cross. But approx. how many acres per pasture for rotational grazing will I likely need for 100-150 head? I'm in south Louisiana where the rainfall is good most of the year & I plan to grow my own hay also, and supplement if necessary. I'm trying to decide how much land to buy to get started.

Also what would be the best water source for cattle? A pond in every pasture, auto waterers, etc? Thanks

 

[denoginnizer]

This is a question that comes up very frequently. If you do a search on here you will find many answers to the question. Most answers will include a statement like "it depends". The reason for this is that when the good Lord was making cattle and cattle pastures he made some real good ones and some real bad ones and everything in between. To make it interesting , he changes the weather from time to time.

A good place to get some rough idea might be to talk to the Gov farm soil Usda office type people and adjoining/close cattle farmers.

 

[cypressfarms]

If you have good grass/pastures you can get by with 1.5 to 2 acres per cow. Some even do it on less. You always want to be prepared for the worst, like deno said, so most people go a little conservative. Conservative for us would be three acres to the cow. This will allow you plenty of extra pasture to cut hay in the summer for winter use. If you plant ryegrass in the fall, you can also have year round grazing, which is a big plus. Ryegrass enables you to not have to supplement cattle in the winter, just let them eat the ryegrass and hay.

Water sources for us are a little easier than other places in the country. Since our water table is so high, a very shallow well will supply plenty of water. Some farmers in the eastern part of the state use ponds due to the hills, but most in this area use either wells that they have had dug, or "city" water. However, city water for that many cows may be expensive. I have some land with about 40 head on it in one area which is supplied by city water. The monthly bill is about $15.