How many acres per head of cattle on good land ?

valen

Hey, I'm no farmer, but curious; how many head per acre would you get on good land in Ireland ? I've seen numbers close to 1:1, and I assume that's if you have them in sheds a lot.

But, if you had no sheds, and had them out 100% of the time, even winter, other than walk-in shelter...how much land would you need ? 3 acres per animal?

Does it change much for milch cows vs. bullocks ?

John

reilig

valen wrote: »

Hey, I'm no farmer, but curious; how many head per acre would you get on good land in Ireland ? I've seen numbers close to 1:1, and I assume that's if you have them in sheds a lot.

But, if you had no sheds, and had them out 100% of the time, even winter, other than walk-in shelter...how much land would you need ? 3 acres per animal?

Does it change much for milch cows vs. bullocks ?

John

It depends on what you classify as good land. What soil type and where????

valen

Land in Skryne/Boyne valley, low-ish land, that seems well drained (has a stream nearby).

John

reilig

valen wrote: »

Land in Skryne/Boyne valley, low-ish land, that seems well drained (has a stream nearby).

John

Will you be spreading fertilizer? Will you be cutting silage off any of it for winter feed or will you expect them to survive on grass 365? If so, you will need to have a very low stocking rate.

Sam Kade

valen wrote: »

Land in Skryne/Boyne valley, low-ish land, that seems well drained (has a stream nearby).

John

No fertilizer and grazing all year round on good land you would want a stocking rate of 2.4-3 LU/ac during winter. You would also need to build up a bank of grass before the end of the growing season to have grass for the winter. During the summer this stocking rate will be too low unless you make hay or silage from the surplus or bring in extra stock during the summer.

valen

What does "2.4-3 LU/ac" mean ? 2.4 to 3 head per acre ? I think the assumption would be to try keep the stocking rate low enough to leave enough grass for hay making.

Thanks guys.

John

pathway33

valen wrote: »

What does "2.4-3 LU/ac" mean ? 2.4 to 3 head per acre ? I think the assumption would be to try keep the stocking rate low enough to leave enough grass for hay making.

Thanks guys.

John

i think

1 cow is 1 LU (livestock unit) or
1 yearling is 0.6 LU
1 calve under 6 months is 0.4 LU
1 sheep is 0.15 LU

though i stand to be corrected on these figures but if 1 am correct you could keep 2 cows and 6 sheep at 2.9 LU/acre for example.

so if you had 10 acres thats 20 cows and 60 sheep. That figure is very high though . Are you sure it wasn't 2.4 - 3 LU / hectare where a hectare is 2.47 acres.

Sam Kade

pathway33 wrote: »

i think

1 cow is 1 LU (livestock unit) or
1 yearling is 0.6 LU
1 calve under 6 months is 0.4 LU
1 sheep is 0.15 LU

though i stand to be corrected on these figures but if 1 am correct you could keep 2 cows and 6 sheep at 2.9 LU/acre for example.

so if you had 10 acres thats 20 cows and 60 sheep. That figure is very high though . Are you sure it wasn't 2.4 - 3 LU / hectare where a hectare is 2.47 acres.

I made a mistake in that last comment I should have wrote 2.4-3 acres/LU for grazing cattle during the winter.