40 acres - stocking numbers?

johnpawl

Just wondering, with 40 acres, 30 good free draining, 10 heavyish, with winter housing facilities slatted tank etc. how many cattle would I be able to keep. System would be sucklers, calving in spring, sell weanlings in Autumn. I'd be hoping to cut silage off the land as well as opposed to buying it, although I may reconsider this. What ye think?

charliecon

I reckon you could keep about 20 cows , I know it mightn't seem like a lot but to be able to keep fresh grass in front of them and keep your calves thriving it should be plenty.
I hope that you are not going out to buy these sucklers now as they are crazy dear at the moment.

tismesoitis

in grange they are expecting to run 120 cows on approx 105 acres in the derrypatrick herd. i think this is very possible that would mean you could run approx 30 - 35 cows it might seem alot but if u divide it up into paddocks you will b amazed how much extra grazing u will get.

charliecon

With all due respect I don't think we should try to replicate what the lads in Grange are at with the Derrypatrick herd :rolleyes: hardly a recipe to make money, besides the op wants to cut enough silage to feed his cows for the winter aswell so depending on where he is that can be up to 200 bales for 20 cows . Now , with a good growth and well fertilised land he could get 14-15 bales per acre which then takes 12 or 13 acres out of his rotation for 10 weeks at least.
So for over one third of the grazing term he will only have 27 acres to keep the 20 cows+20 calves(hopefully) on.
My advice to you johnpawl is start at a managable level and see how you get on, you can always increase numbers next year if it is viable.
I suppose I should say that I am giving my opinion based on Cavan land and a near 6 month winter:o

johnpawl

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I'll fence it off this summer and split it up into paddocks properly. I wont be buying anything in the current climate, but I have 10 cows n calves for it at the moment and I suppose the best route to take is just keep the heifers n work up from there...

tismesoitis

charliecon wrote: »

With all due respect I don't think we should try to replicate what the lads in Grange are at with the Derrypatrick herd :rolleyes: hardly a recipe to make money, besides the op wants to cut enough silage to feed his cows for the winter aswell so depending on where he is that can be up to 200 bales for 20 cows . Now , with a good growth and well fertilised land he could get 14-15 bales per acre which then takes 12 or 13 acres out of his rotation for 10 weeks at least.
So for over one third of the grazing term he will only have 27 acres to keep the 20 cows+20 calves(hopefully) on.
My advice to you johnpawl is start at a managable level and see how you get on, you can always increase numbers next year if it is viable.
I suppose I should say that I am giving my opinion based on Cavan land and a near 6 month winter:o

in all fairness the stocking rates are very achievable the problem in grange are d clowns running and managing the herd are totally incompetant

Tomjim

I am running 20 cows and a bull and 25 ewes on 46 acres. Sell the weanlings in autumn from Sept to December. Cut 10 acres silage in August, kept up iin May. No fertiliser applied in Spring, only for silage ground. Instead fert applied in August when demand is greater from Weanlings. It is good high free draining ground but it has not been reseeded