Expert: Karin - 8/14/2011

Question
HI Karin,
We have recently bought 23 acres in a semi dry environment in west aust. (water quantity ok) Looks like rye grass but getting this checked, looking at running some angus heifers and A1ing them, Understand it a long shot question and there are a number of variables, but is there an average stocking rate for cows and calves (want to run the calves upto killers) per acre of dry feed? I dont want to get into a position of overstocking.
Any advise would be appreciated.
kind regards Phil.

Answer
Hi Phil,

To give you a short answer: Yes.  For example, when cattle are bale or swath-grazed up here in Canada, there has to be a particular stocking rate so that a) feed doesn't get eaten up too quickly and b) there is enough room for the cows to move around.  And of course there's a "stocking rate" for how large a hay field is needed to produce hay for X number of cattle.  

In the case of pasture, stocking rates in terms of how much a cow with or without a calf  are calculated with how much that cow eats per day in terms of dry matter (take all the water out of the feed), which is often referred to as ration DM. (I assume THIS is what you are referring to).  So yes, you definitely have to compensate for how much water content is in the feed and grasses in order to stock properly.  When you calculate stocking rate in terms of as-fed content, you need to divide the amount eaten in ration dry matter by % moisture content (remember to multiply thus number by 100).  For example, a 1000 lb Angus cow will eat 25 lb dry matter ration. If she eats this amount on ryegrass with a moisture content of 90%, that means she will eating 27.8 lb of ryegrass as-fed per day.

Remember that stocking rate is the number of animals on a pasture during a month or grazing season, and is usually expressed as animal unit months (AUM) per acre.

I hope that answers your question.  If not feel free to let me know. :)

-Karin