How Many Acres Per Beef Cow
Author(southward): Greg Halich
Published: July 28th, 2020
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In May 2019, I was on a farm visit eastward of Lexington with a few county agents and NRCS specialists. Our goal was to assist a cattle farmer who had about five years of experience come up with a long-run plan for improved infrastructure (h2o, fencing, etc.) too as guide him in the brusk-run to ameliorate the profitability of the farm.
It was quickly clear that the farm was significantly overstocked. Information technology was mid-May and the pastures looked more similar what you would wait in belatedly July or Baronial, non similar what pastures should await like at their elevation production. The pasture was one large unit without whatever subdivisions and was existence continuously grazed by the cattle.
We found out later on that he had about 95 acres of open up pasture acres (after subtracting out woods and brush) and around 45 cows. This put his stocking rate at only over two acres of pasture per moo-cow. Two acres of pasture per cow is sometimes used as a dominion-of-thumb equally what is needed to support a beef cow in Kentucky. However, the soil quality of those acres, as well as management intensity are important factors that also need to be considered. Two acres of gently rolling Maury Silt loam in fundamental Kentucky combined with well-managed rotational grazing will provide a lot more grazing than two acres of steep hillside Eden Shale dirt combined with continuous grazing. Cow size volition also have an impact. Yous can run a lot more moderate-framed 1200 lb cows on a given farm then yous tin can 1800 lb behemoths.
Moreover, the two-acre per cow generalization does non define what "supporting" a moo-cow means. Does it mean being able to graze through Dec on an average year, or does it mean the farmer will outset having to feed hay by early October in an average year, and belatedly summer if at that place is fifty-fifty a mild drought? I would contend that with more typical soils and management found in Kentucky, the two-acre stocking rate generalization would more than likely than not result in the later hay feeding situation. The farm we were visiting was comprised generally of steep Eden Shale clay, was beingness continuously grazed by the cattle, and was feeding over 150 days of hay per year.
We spent over two hours touring the farm and had a discussion in the shade earlier leaving. At that place were a lot of suggestions about ways to improve the subcontract, and virtually of these the farmer agreed with. All the same, when I mentioned that one of his central issues on the farm was that he was overstocked and that by reducing the number of cows he could increase his profitability quicker than just annihilation else we suggested, he seemed perplexed. Paraphrasing what he said only slightly: "How could having fewer cows, and selling fewer calves peradventure make you more coin?" He was of grade, focused on the revenue side of the profit equation.
What he was not because is how much the cost side of the equation could go down by stocking at a lower rate. The biggest toll that decreases with a lower stocking rate is hay cost: non just overall hay price ($ for the entire subcontract), but also the hay cost per cow. By having fewer cows, you volition be able to graze further into the fall or wintertime, too every bit start grazing a trivial before in the leap. Thus, hay cost per cow would go downwards.
Having fewer cows (compared to an overstocked subcontract) also results in improve quality forage, on average, going into the rumen of the cow, both during the grazing season and during those days where the overstocked farm is feeding hay while the farm with the lower stocking charge per unit is yet grazing. This improved forage quality has 2 positive effects on performance: 1) Increased conception/weaning rates, and ii) Increased weaning weights for the calves. Greg Brann, retired Tennessee NRCS grazing specialist (now doing consulting work related to grazing and soil health https://gregbrann.com/) noticed how drastically these performance measures improved on farms with lower stocking rates based on the thousands of cattle farms he visited in Tennessee and surrounding states. He also said well-nigh people never considered them every bit possible benefits of reduced stocking rates.
Getting back to the cattle farm east of Lexington, how many cows should this farmer reduce his cow herd by to be most profitable? It was clear that reducing his stocking rate from the current level would help with profitability, only at what point should he finish? Would he be nigh assisting at two.5 acres per cow, 3 acres per cow, or four acres per cow?
I take been working on this question for the last few years. 1 thing that I learned is that you cannot answer the stocking rate question straight. Every bit mentioned earlier, 2 acres of pasture is not always equivalent to another two acres of pasture. Management styles differ considerably, and ii dissimilar farms on the aforementioned blazon of ground may need dissimilar stocking rates to achieve the same grazing goals. Thus, the question needs to be framed slightly differently: Instead of trying to decide what is the most assisting stocking rate for all farms, we demand to instead determine the about profitable number of hay feeding days for a given farm. If for example, the most profitable hay feeding days turned out to be three months, that might be equivalent to 2.5 acres of pasture per cow on one farm, and 3.v acres of pasture per cow on another farm. You would take to estimate what actual stocking rate would become yous to that hay-feeding rate based on the management and productivity of each farm.
The basic tradeoff in estimating the optimal hay feeding days is this: by reducing the stocking charge per unit, we sell fewer calves, but at the same time we also reduce our costs/moo-cow, too as increasing the revenue per dogie slightly (through the higher weaning rates and weaning weights). The other 2 major factors that impact the decision are hay toll per ton, as well as the overall cattle market. If the toll of hay is high, the optimal hay feeding days will shift down (you will want a lower stocking rate). If the overall cattle marketplace is high (like in 2014), the optimal hay feeding hays will shift upward (you volition want a college stocking rate). In other words, if we knew nosotros were going to be able to sell calves for $2.fifty/lb, the reduced costs from lowering our stocking rate would not probable outweigh selling fewer calves and giving up $yard-1200 per head.
Results:
Table 1 shows the results for the most assisting hay feeding days given an estimated net hay cost. This assumes a cattle market that is slightly above current levels, where a 525 lb steer/heifer average dogie is selling for $i.50/lb. Cyberspace hay cost is the price or value of the hay minus the cyberspace fertilizer value. For case, a 5'x5' bale is typically effectually 1000 lbs or one-half a ton. If the cost per bale was $35, the cost per ton would be $lxx. The net nutrient value will vary essentially, from $0-25 per ton. Most farms are probably in the $five-ten per ton range. Thus if we valued the nutrient value at $ten per ton, the net hay price for this farm (hay minus nutrient value) would be $70 – $10, or $60 per ton. For more details on how to guess the food value of the hay fed on your subcontract become to the post-obit article: https://world wide web.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/fertilizer-value-of-hay-feeding
Depending on the estimated net hay cost, the near assisting hay feeding ranges from 0 – 120 days. The net hay cost for nearly farms in Kentucky will probably be at or slightly above the $60/ton level. Given this likely net hay cost, the near profitable number of hay feeding days will be in the 60-ninety day range, or two to three months of hay feeding for the average Kentucky subcontract. For further details of the analysis, see the following commodity in Progressive Forages: https://www.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/picking-apples-off-the-grazing-tree-part-iii-the-stocking-rate-hay-feeding-trade-off
How do these results conform to the bulk of beef cattle farms in Kentucky? Acknowledging that we do not have official statistics on hay feeding days, I do regularly enquire county agents what their gauge is for their canton. The usual response is around 120 days or 4 months of hay feeding, with the range somewhere between 100-150 days. If these estimates are accurate, we are feeding a lot more hay then nosotros should be, and thus accept a lot of room to improve profitability.
I have been criticized by hard-core grazing proponents for not providing a unified message promoting less hay feeding, even though for the average farm in Kentucky that is exactly what I have been advocating. While most farms are probably feeding too much hay, in that location is a smaller number that are non feeding enough and have pushed the "grazing is cheaper than hay feeding" envelope too far.
I presented on this topic at the Tennessee Grazing for Profit conference a few years ago and a immature cattle farmer came up to me after the presentation. He seemed perplexed: he had read in a grazing magazine and heard at some other briefing that grazing is always cheaper than feeding hay. My results contradicted the message that yous should strive for feeding no hay on your cattle farm. I asked him how he was going to become to the point of not feeding whatsoever hay on his farm. He said he was told to merely keep grazing through the wintertime and to not feed hay! I tried to tell him in equally kind words equally I could find that this was wishful thinking, and that wishful thinking volition not provide grass for the cows to eat on a cold, windy February day.
This young cattle farmer seemed just as perplexed equally the farmer on those steep Eden Shale slopes. He did not sympathise the hay-feeding and stocking-rate tradeoff, and idea he could continually reduce his wintertime hay feeding without at some point reducing his stocking charge per unit, and consequently (if successful in feeding no hay) would end up with a stocking charge per unit that was too depression. The farmer east of Lexington also did non understand the hay-feeding and stocking-rate tradeoff, just was on the other side of the proverbial misinformation fence. Consequently, he was stocked fashion too high.
The 2-acre per cow rule of thumb may have had a purpose and may have been useful one-2 generations ago. Possibly cattle prices were considerably higher relative to hay costs at that fourth dimension, thus increasing the range of virtually profitable hay feeding days. Possibly the average cow size was a lot smaller. I do not know for certain. However, in our current era, at that place are few soil-management-moo-cow size combinations in Kentucky that I believe 2 acres per cow will be anything shut to the most profitable stocking rate, and will likely lead to a steady flow of losses.
I would rather not have a rule-of-thumb for annihilation that is as variable as stocking rates. If someone new to cattle is seeking guidance on how many cows their 100 acre farm tin can handle, I would rather non tell them a specific number without additional explanation. I think it is amend to initially say something like: "any the number of cattle your farm can handle to proceed your total hay feeding days in the 2-three month range". That might involve starting out with 3-4 acres per cow (25-33 cows on the 100 acre farm) and seeing what it results in, and slowly adjusting the stocking charge per unit to reach and stay in that optimal hay feeding range. It will not necessarily be a static number. Improvements over time in grazing management and/or soil quality volition allow an increase in stocking rates.
Given Kentucky'due south unique forage base and climate, we accept the potential to be 1 of the everyman-cost producers of calves in the country. That was a gift bestowed on us by a college order. How we cull to take stewardship of that gift is upward to each of us. Will nosotros exist lean and mean, or shiny and bloated? The quickest style for virtually farms in Kentucky to get back on the path of low-cost production is to base their stocking rate on profitability, not bragging rights based on maximum product. For near of our farms that will mean feeding less (but not cypher) hay. Getting rid of the 2-acre per cow rule-of-thumb and aiming for threescore-ninety days of hay feeding will become virtually farms pointed in the correct direction.
Author(south) Contact Information:
Greg Halich | Associate Extension Professor | greg.halich@uky.edu
Profitable Stocking Rates was one of the topics covered at the Cow-Dogie Profitability Conferences held this by winter. The focus of these conferences is to identify drains on profitability and provide options to remedy them. The conferences were postponed due to Covid-nineteen. Contact your canton ANR agent to find out when they volition resume, hopefully by late fall, as well as the locations they will be offered. When available, dates and locations will also be appear on our Extension Events page and Facebook folio.
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Source: https://agecon.ca.uky.edu/sacred-cows-and-stocking-rates
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