HOW MANY ANIMALS CAN I would need a REALLY fat piggy bank, if I had a dime for each time I’ve been asked “how many _______(insert random animal here) can I run on this place?”… Sometimes they asked about sheep or goats, sometimes about cattle, even had one ask about an alpaca stocking rate. Short answer…there is no short answer! There will always be follow-up questions about types of forage available and percentage of ground covered by trees and brush versus forage. No fear, I’m going to teach you how to obtain all that info! Stocking rate is best defined by North Dakota State University’s Miranda Meehan, Extension Livestock Environmental Stewardship Specialist: “stocking rate is the number of specific kinds and classes of animals grazing or using a unit of land for a specific time period”. Meehan goes on to write “stocking rate has the largest impact on the health of the grassland resource and on animal performance of all management tools available”. A standard animal unit is 1000 pounds of grazing animal. The following estimations are generic in use. There are extremes to any situation…as a Miniature Hereford herd (a notoriously small cattle breed) will not have the same stocking rate as a Chianina herd (considered one of the largest cattle breeds). The table below is adapted information from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) National Range and Pasture Handbook.
ANIMAL ANIMAL UNIT EQUIVALENT Antelope, mature 0.20 Bovine (including Bison & Domestic Cattle) Bull, mature male
1.35
Cow, mature female w/o calf
0.92
Cow, mature female w/ calf
1.00
Deer, mature - White Tail
0.15
Deer, mature - Mule
0.20
Elk, mature 0.60 Goat, mature 0.15 Kid, 1 year old
0.10
Horse, mature 1.25 Sheep, mature 0.20 Lamb, 1 year old
0.15
Miranda Meehan, “Determining Carrying Capacity and Stocking Rates for Range and Pasture in North Dakota,” North Dakota State University - Publications, Nov. 2018, https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/livestock/determining-carryingcapacity-and-stocking-rates-for-range-and-pasture-in-north-dakota.
1
26
TEXASRANCHSALESLLC.COM
How dare I not list the Alpaca animal unit for stocking rate, after that clear teaser in paragraph one? All one must do is simply utilize the average bodyweight of an animal and compare it with 1000 pounds. Alpaca’s weight aligns with the average mature sheep…boom 5 alpacas equal one animal unit. Now you’re officially ready for trivia night! For the full animal unit equivalent chart for Texas, check out the Animal Unit Equivalent Chart on the www.nrcs.usda.gov website or scan the QR code.
Now, before I get phone calls from my animal science friends, know there have been many efforts to change this “1940s way of viewing stocking rates” by considering forage intake instead of weight, but I’ve found this is the easiest way to start the process of finding a stocking rate.
