# Cows/animals per acre?



## jenG (Aug 20, 2011)

Hello to all, Richard and I are inching closer and closer to our goal of having our family farm up and running and continuing our research as we go. 
Just curious if I could get some feed back from some of you PLEASE...
How many acres do you have and how many animals and what do you have?

We have gone through some consultation with our local NRCS agent and the Noble foundation and they have given us some numbers that really suprised us.

Also those of you with Family Milk cows how do you breed? Do you own a bull, borrow a bull or do you AI? 

Here is our situation in a nut shell. We have 25 acres and we just planted native grasses and some forbes per the NRCS agent to prepare and revitalize the pasture for animals. Once the grass has had a chance to establish it's self we were told that it would only support 1-2 cows or 7 goats. I'd love to hear what others are doing and on how much land. We know this is a process and we want to do things right and be the best stewards to the land and our animals as possible. 
Thank you so much for any feed back!
God Bless!
Jennifer


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## Plowpoint (May 2, 2012)

I tend to find that most NRCS agronomists are really quite proficient at what they do, and since they live in that location, work with farmers daily and have been on the farm in question and already assessed it; I have no reason to doubt the numbers indicated.

Where I live, those numbers are low but this is New England where we have an abundance of rain and some of the best grazing known. Here we can put one cow per acre, or 6 sheep per acre on continual grazing, or more per acre if rotationally grazed.

The one thing I do know though, a stocking rate is very difficult to define. It varies considerably from one farm to another, and even from one field to another. For instance, on my farm I have improved pastures, sown into high protein grass types like orchard grass, timothy, clover and alfalfa. This is coupled with crop rotation every 7 years from grass to corn and then back, and coupled with some really good loamy soil. I put a lot of work into my fields and thus can stock at a very high rate, whereas another farmer who may not put as much concern into his fields, may not be able to get a stocking rate such as that and still maintain healthy animals.

But ALWAYS keep in mind, that when talking about a stocking rate, it MUST BE DEFINED. I assume from the low NRCS numbers that the person is talking about a CONTINUAL stocking rate. That is important because while I can put 30 sheep per acre in May when I can watch the grass grow, I certainly could not stock that many sheep per acre in November. I can however, keep 6 sheep on an acre of grazing land here all through the grazing year (April through November here) thereby called continual grazing. Many people new to raising animals have gotten into trouble when they confuse rotational grazing with continual grazing. My suggestion to combat this is; since it sounds like you have a great relationship with your NRCS Agronomist, ask if he can do a rotational grazing plan for you. I got one from my NRCS Agronomist and it has worked out well for me...lots of good information.


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## G. Seddon (May 16, 2005)

Excellent post, Plowpoint!


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

jenG said:


> Also those of you with Family Milk cows how do you breed? Do you own a bull, borrow a bull or do you AI?
> 
> 
> God Bless!
> Jennifer


For just one cow, I would AI.


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## jenG (Aug 20, 2011)

Plowpoint thank you for your reply! 
We are going to be doing rotational grazing and we are excited to see how things begin for us. We have read all of Greg Judy's and of course Joel Salatin's books and are now reading Alan Nation as well as Jim Gerrish. Just trying to get a good foundation for when it is time to move forward. 
Our 25 acres is approximately 18 pasture and 7 wooded with creek and small tank. It previously had 4 hourses and 1 mule roaming around and was not to our knowleage used for anything else. We have done a soil test which showed that things were in good shape however we will be doing more as we move forward. 
I enjoy reading and learning from all of you and will be back with more questions as they come up. We hope to be able to purchase a Dexter cow/calf set in hopes of being able to have a family milk cow and to raise offspring to possibly begin a herd on leased land nearby.
Our NRCS agent is wonderful and I can not say enough about the Noble foundation which serves parts of north Texas & southern Oklahoma. What a blessing they have been!
Thank you again!
Jennifer


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

Depends on the pasture. takes one acre of irrigated ground with intense rotational grazing. 5 acres on subirrigated land and 10 acres on the dry land pasture for the growing season. We also need 1-2 acres of irrigated hay land for each cow to put up the winter feed fro them.
I keep my own bull when I have at least 3 cows but you can AI if you have jsut a few


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

I've got 2 acres of really good irrigated pasture. It will support 2 yearlings or 1 cow calf unit for half the year. Hay is necessary for the other 6 months.

I've owned some marginal irrigated pasture where 40 acres would support 6 head, for part of the year.

Dry land around here you need a couple hundred acres for 1 cow calf unit.

There is no figure for how many acres per cow.

Rotating will support more head, irrigating will support more head. Good weather and lots of rain will support more head. Excellent soil will support more head.


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