Cattle per Acre Calculator (2024)

FAQs

How do I calculate how many cows per acre? ›

The general rule of thumb is 1:1. That means one cow per one acre of pasture. Keep in mind that is a minimum requirement. A cow/calf pair will typically require closer to two acres.

You should be able to keep between 0.5 and 1.1 cows per acre on average pasture. In general, rotational grazing may increase the cows-per-acre rate up to 30% compared to traditional grazing. However, rotational grazing techniques require at least two paddocks and are usually more expensive.

Let's see what grandpa's farm would have looked like from the grazing side. In 1950, the typical grazing operation was approximately 40 acres with an average of 13 cows. This works out to three acres of pasture per cow. In comparison, in 2017 the average grazing operation with beef cattle was 29 acres with 17 head.

You may have heard a rule-of-thumb is that it takes 1.5 to 2 acres to feed a cow calf pair for 12 months. That means we should be able to have 10 to 13 cows. Let's see how this rule-of-thumb holds up. It looks like our rule-of-thumb held up pretty good, 11 cows on 20 acres, is 1.8 acres per cow.

A typical 1 AU, 1,000 lb, cow might require as much as 8 acres (3.2 ha) on poor quality pasture with low precipitation or as little as about 0.27 acres (0.11 ha) on an irrigated pasture in excellent condition.

Also, you'll need supplemental feed, which you can purchase or grow yourself. You need at least one acre per head for any cattle, but for exclusively grass fed I'd recommend upping that to five acres per head, two and a half for pasture and another two and a half for feed hay come winter.

The self-evident answer to these questions is “no.” It does not matter if you are milking 200 cows or 2,000 cows, 10 cows is a big deal when looking at the bottom line to your income over feed cost. In this scenario, 10 fewer cows results in $99 per day, $693 per week, $3000 per month in potential lost revenue.

Beef cattle are generally the most profitable and easiest livestock to raise for profit. Beef cattle simply require good pasture, supplemental hay during the winter, fresh water, vaccinations and plenty of room to roam. You can buy calves from dairy farms inexpensively to start raising beef cattle.

The $175/cow/year gross return over cash costs and cow depreciation does not look quite as good now. After adjusting for these other costs, the net return (all costs included) is –$175 per cow per year ($175 – $350), or –$7000 total for the 40-cow farm.

Trucking (calves, supplies, etc.) Other (insurance, property taxes, water, etc.) Note that based on the assumptions in our example, total specified expenses per cow are $584 and revenues per cow are $1029. Thus, the estimated gross return is $444 per cow.

How many cows to make a living? ›

By this logic, 100 cows would produce a net profit of about $34,000/year. 200 cows selling 200 calves/year would then produce a net profit of about $68,000/year. edit to add: If 650 lb calves sell for $2.60 in the fall that 50 cow herd net profit moves from $16,950 to $21,400.

Cattle grow FAST – they are “adults” at 2 years of age! As they grow their food and housing is continually adjusted to best suit their needs.

Estimating carrying capacity:

As a rule of thumb, we need 15-18 acres of unirrigated annual rangelands in the Sierra Foothills to support one average sized cow (1,200 lbs) for a year. On irrigated pasture, we'll typically produce enough forage to support this cow on one acre for a 6-month grazing season.

Usually, the cost of a cow will be somewhere between $2,000 and $5,000. The weight of the cow, its gender, and its breed decides its actual cost. Yearlings are mostly less expensive than matured cows. They cost around $800 to $1,500.

If one acre would feed a 1200lb cow for 44 days then it would feed a 600lb calf for 88 days. Higher grain yields provide more AUM and lower yields less. One acre of irrigated corn stalks or grain sorghum stubble will provide approximately 1.5 to 2 AUM of grazing.

Determine the average weight in ounces after recording dry matter weights for each sample. Once you have an average dry matter weight in ounces, convert it to pounds by dividing by 16, and then multiply by 10,000 to determine pounds of forage dry matter per acre.

A rule of thumb for dairy operations is 1.5 to 2.0 acres per cow, which includes the youngstock. Even on herds utilizing custom heifer raisers, acreage may still be limited for the cows and the reduced heifer numbers raised on the home farm (Table 1).