Pasture stocking rate calculator
Stocking rate matches the number of animals to how much the pasture actually grows, which changes through the season.
A 600 kg dry cow is 1.0; a ewe with lambs about 0.15.
kg DM/ha/day
kg DM/day
kg DM/ha
kg DM/ha
Stocking rate
2.000LSU/ha
- Daily feed surplus or deficit
- 1020 kg DM/day
- Grazing days available
- 38.5
- Livestock units the growth supports
- 138.5
- Herd demand
- 780 kg DM/day
- Pasture growth
- 1800 kg DM/day
- Area per paddock
- 2.500
- Days per paddock
- 3.21
Show the working
- Grazing area = 30
- Number of animals = 60
- Livestock units per animal = 1
- Pasture growth = 60
- Intake per livestock unit = 13
- Available cover = 2500
- Residual to leave = 1500
- Paddocks in the rotation = 12
- lsu = 60 * 1 = 60
- Stocking rate = 30 > 0 ? 60 / 30 : 0 = 2
- Herd demand = 60 * 13 = 780
- Pasture growth = 60 * 30 = 1800
- Daily feed surplus or deficit = 1800 - 780 = 1020
- grazeable = max(2500 - 1500, 0) * 30 = 30 000
- Grazing days available = 780 > 0 ? 30 000 / 780 : 0 = 38.4615
- Area per paddock = 30 / 12 = 2.5
- Days per paddock = 38.4615 / 12 = 3.205 13
- Livestock units the growth supports = 13 > 0 ? 1800 / 13 : 0 = 138.462
Values are shown to six significant figures here; the arithmetic itself runs on exact fractions and is only rounded where a number is printed.
Scenarios & local history
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The formula
- demand = livestock units x intake per unit
- grazing days = (cover - residual) x area / demand
Grazing below about 1500 kg DM/ha of residual slows regrowth sharply, which costs more than the extra grazing gains.
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