# How much acreage for lowlines



## Tall Grille (May 4, 2011)

I am looking into buying some land to be able to fulfill our homesteading desires. We are obviously going to try to get as much land as we can afford, but we are also locked into a geographical region where large lots are rare and very expensive. How much acreage would be required to raise a few Lowline Angus or Dexters? We would continue raising pigs as we do now and chickens as well as a large garden. I have been looking at lots between 12 and 16 acres. Is this enough for a few cows? I realize that without enough pasture I will have to buy more feed increasing the cost. How well do lowlines/dexters forage? Most of the lots around here are mostly wooded, would they find food in the woods or do they need grass pasture?


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## InvalidID (Feb 18, 2011)

It really depends on the quality of the land and the weight of the cows. I know that where I live I can run nearly 2000lbs per acre. Maybe more but I'm not willing to push it that far, yet.
In an area like Texas they don't run head per acre, it's acres per head.


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## SCRancher (Jan 11, 2011)

To answer your woods question it also depends - if it's mature pine forest with nothing growing under then not much feed value there.

If it's mature hardwoods - not much there either most of the time just due to the shading.

If it's a pretty recent clear cut area like part of my woods - there is a LOT of forage there because the earth is sill receiving plenty of sunlight, the cows can and will forage on the leaves of trees they can reach etc...

I have 20-30 acres of 10 year old clear cut and I have 13 head of cattle in there - it can feed them for 3-4 weeks this summer and it fed them for almost 6 weeks this winter but it was the first time any live stock had been in that area.

Hope that helps.


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