Just stumbled to this video and loved it. Reading the comments though, there’s a lot of people looking for “cut and paste” answers when it comes to animals, grazing, and who knows what else. Here’s something that might help you all with the math above. First start with the definition of an animal unit. 1 unit = 1000lbs of animal. If you have 7 sheep that weight 143lbs each, you still have 1 animal unit. A cow generally weighs 1 unit. Next we talk about a cow. A cow eats about 3% of its body weight in dry feed a day (give or take). So per AU (animal unit) that cow eats 30lbs of dry feed. You got 10 cows? Are they 1000lbs each? That’s 300lbs of dry feed per day. A sheep eats about 3% of its body weight in dry feed per day. 10 sheep at 150lbs each will eat about 45 lbs of dry feed per day. What is this “dry feed”? Grass tends to be about 8% water. If you have 30 lbs of grass, take away 8%, you have 27.6lbs of dry feed. So your cow is actually eating more than 30lbs of grass due to the water content. About 33lbs of fresh grass. How much grass is on your land? That’s where region specific information comes in. You will need to research what the yield of hay/grass is per acre where you live. You might know this because you harvest your fields already for hay, or ask a neighbor, call someone in your county. The Wyoming rancher on KZbin needs 30 acres per cow because grass grows so little. Someone in a wet climate down south grows a lot of grass per acre. So now we can figure out how many AU we have, how much food the number AU’s we have will eat per day, and then how much food we can grow per acre. Once we have this info is the video above. The skipped info that is very VERY specific to you locally. Hope this helps!!
@ruedaricardo3 жыл бұрын
8% water. You probably mean grass is 80% water
@vegafarms3 жыл бұрын
@@ruedaricardo no need to nit pick but you might be right for your region or a specific time of the year you have in mind. Yet the point of the statement stands. Especially since it was an example. To calculate dry matter that is correct assuming you followed the last paragraph and research what you have on Your specific land. The following is what the averages tend to be for dry matter but it’s not set in stone: Grain = 85-89% dry matter Dry hay = ~90% dry matter Grain Silage = 25-35% dry matter Haylage/Baleage = 35-60% dry matter Fresh grass can be as dry as being 90% dry matter or 30%. That’s why I said research what you have. It can depend on time of season, species, your region, and possibly other factors i can’t think of at the moment. Is it the wet season where you live or is it basically a desert right now as it hasn’t rained in months, many things go into it.
@vegafarms2 жыл бұрын
until weaned, the calf is considered part of the 1 animal unit. Most counties or municipalities that define their stocking densities have the cow calf pair as one. Until then they go about together however you decide to put them on pasture or rotate them. Once weaned they are considered their own unit, especially if you’re going to grow them out for your own beef instead of selling them. If they are castrated, there’s no reason to keep them separate as you grow them out, unless you want to specifically control what they eat and feed grain. When it’s time to send them to butcher you can run them through a chute to separate them. On 90 acres you can do a lot, but it always depends on specifics to your area and your own practices and land. :) Some people have 90 acres but maybe only 40 is actual pasture. Good luck to you! Hopefully it kind of answered your question. If not let me know and I’ll give it another go
@robertomendoza16902 жыл бұрын
If I have a 400 milking cows, and the size of grass is 2800 and the paddock is 2.89 hectares how to calculate this,how much they ate?
@landengrant36577 жыл бұрын
Hi John. I'm tracking all the way with Troy on this. However, I do have one question: How did you or Troy come up with 300lbs per inch per acre? That weight would depend on how dense the grass is and I also imagine different species of grass are denser than others (alfalfa vs. clover vs brome grass etc) . So the amount of pounds per inch per acre would vary from pasture to pasture. How do you come up that? Use a grazing stick? Great videos, thanks
@loharp8 жыл бұрын
how much time till you can revisit a paddock?
@brettpayton62864 ай бұрын
So please help me under stand where you came up with 1600 in the beginning, an what the 300 represents please. That's where your loosing me. Thanks
@foreverpermaculture85726 жыл бұрын
How many cows can graze per .8 paddock.
@paradoxchild014 жыл бұрын
Forever Permaculture 1000 lb cow eats 30 lbs of grass a day. So 30 times how many heads. So the 1600 is the total amount his cows eat per day.
@johnsavchak82022 жыл бұрын
@@paradoxchild01 thanks for that!
@DustySmalls8 жыл бұрын
John, i know you are supposed to have 5-7 inches of grass in the spring before you let out cattle. At what point in the spring does this usually happen?
@cleburne-dfwseptic68435 жыл бұрын
Where did the1,600 come from?
@PeterSedesse3 жыл бұрын
60 cows x 900 lbs each cow x 3% food consumption (cows eat 3% per day)
@kevinholbrook7174 Жыл бұрын
Great information about the pastures for cattle. How much acreage do you need for 1 cow or more cows?
@franciscovasquez4555 Жыл бұрын
How do you account for the size of your cattle
@andrewyek6 жыл бұрын
hii, 1600lbs for how many cows ? is that dry hay or wet grass ? how do you know one cow one day is how much dry and wet grass >? how about goat >? appreciated. good info calculation i need it. i gonna use on to rabbits. andrew
@PeterSedesse3 жыл бұрын
It is both. Originally it is simply dry weight.. so for 60 cows they need 1600 lbs of dry weight. However, very smart farmers have already determined that one acre of 'wet grass' is equal to 300 lbs of dry weight per inch of wet grass. So if you have an acre of 10 inches of grass, that would be 3000 lbs of ' dry weight equivalent. The 300 lbs per acre per inch allows you to convert from dry to wet grass.
@CurtisKinne3 ай бұрын
Where does the 1600 come from? Why is that the number? And this still doesn’t tell me how many cows per acre. Can we just tell us how many cows per acre to achieve mob grazing properly? Or am I missing something?
@fariemat2675 Жыл бұрын
How many cows are feeding on the 1,600lbs?
@chelseyummali6 жыл бұрын
so how much land would someone need to free graze 1-2 cows?
@BlueberryDro15 жыл бұрын
Cows eat approx. 3% of their body weight per day. So a 1 thousand pound cow will eat about 30 pounds a day.
@waynemcbride108711 ай бұрын
How many cows is that for?
@joshrogers56776 жыл бұрын
best video I have seen on the subject. Thanks
@AinsleyVarvel2 жыл бұрын
How do you get to the initial 1600?
@ysdgd8 жыл бұрын
So if I have 20 or so cows, how much land I need? For pasture and for hay for the winter.
@asgaamericansolargrazingas42566 жыл бұрын
Hi! Can you do some examples for us sheep folks? Average size ewes, 125-180 lbs Thanks
@PeterSedesse3 жыл бұрын
In his example, 1 cow would equal 6 sheep. So since he is doing 60 cows, you could do the same paddock size with 360 sheep.
@coachschro208 жыл бұрын
Do you do winter grazing as well? thanks
@dirtsmiles80988 жыл бұрын
Hey john. Any ideas how well this scales down? How would you adapt to raising just a few beef?
@dirtsmiles80988 жыл бұрын
So if doing the same math as you, 3 beef would need .011 acre or 480 sq feet. That is only 40 x 12. If you double the number of beef it's still just 40x24. That doesn't seem like enough room. Would it be better to go to a two or three day rotation or does this not work small scale?
@MrMcGillicuddy8 жыл бұрын
+Dirt&Smiles I've never raised beef cattle but I'm pretty sure you need around an acre of space per cow give or take season length,soil/pasture quality and breed of cow/size of cow. That is one acre that won't be damaged in a whole season by grazing without rotation. There are a lot of variables to consider to really refine it though. There shouldn't be a problem scaling down all the way down to one cow it's just you need to have enough space to rotate depending on how fast your particular pasture grass grows back
@rogerglancy35272 жыл бұрын
Please, how many pounds per cow???
@andrewyek6 жыл бұрын
hey john, do one more such calculation for goat... pls.
@haasemu6 жыл бұрын
Very informational. Finally!
@gedwardnelson3 жыл бұрын
How many cows?
@marlongoden38717 жыл бұрын
hey found your video kind of helpful .....but how long do you think it would take a 900lb cow to eat an average acre of pasture? average quality pasture. how long?
@lorenbonds80087 жыл бұрын
Based on their math, the answer is 66 days (i.e. a cow could live "indefinitely" on the acre). A 900lbs cow would eat 3% of it's body weight or 27lbs of dry matter equivalent. In their scenario, a pasture with 10" of grass grazed down to 4" would be 6" of grass eaten... at 300lbs per inch in an acre... that's 1800lbs of forage. 1,800lbs of forage divided by 27lbs needed for one cow is 66.66 days of forage. And with grass constantly growing, it takes about 4-6 weeks (depending on season) to grow the grass back to 10" again. And without rotational grazing in that 1 acre, the cow will run all over that 1 acre and go right for the clover and leave the less palatable forage behind. It's better to create smaller paddocks and consider making hay with the surplus to keep the pasture and the cow healthy. Of course, this scenario really depends on 300lbs per inch per acre in the pasture. Some pastures are much more sparse than that and only yield 150-250lbs per acre. Used have to use a grazing stick to estimate the density of forage in your pasture.
@Vanessa-be9mr5 жыл бұрын
What would be the size of a paddock for a miniature Dexter or Jersey family milk cow?
@PeterSedesse3 жыл бұрын
Ha, I just did that math. Assuming your cow weight is about 500lbs (pretty average for a mini).. From my math, you would need 1/100 of an acre of 10 inch grass to leave it at 4 inches ( 6 inches eaten). This equates to about 21 ft x 21 ft paddock per day of ten inch grass. Since the grass would grow back in 50 days, this means you need about half an acre for a mini, which is basically what everyone tells you anyway. Take a half acre, break it up into 50 paddocks, and rotate the cow through. But also remember, you should have chickens about 3 days behind the cows. So you should be easily be able to keep a mini and a bunch of laying hens on the same half acre.
@gfplv5 жыл бұрын
Dude, you need to make the same exact video but using metrics :D
@buffalopatriot8 жыл бұрын
Good vid. Always defer to the eyes.
@franklinmichael6718 жыл бұрын
And how long does it take for the grass to grow back to 10"??
@farmmarketing8 жыл бұрын
+Franklin Michael There are a ton of factors that go into that answer. Time of year, rain fall, what the area is like. Can be 30 days, can be 90.
@franklinmichael6718 жыл бұрын
John Suscovich Great thanks
@susanparry23567 жыл бұрын
great job, guys!
@crazy808ish8 жыл бұрын
3:30 I'm surprised at you. With all those spreadsheets and precise calculations of costs you've doing in the past, it's not a precise science? Without the proper size you're depriving certain cows of decent weight gain, and too much is just trampled feed. Improper calculations then make fencing an issue.
@Cmfacebk3 жыл бұрын
The reason he said its not a precise calculation is because of the variables. These calculations give you a starting point, but don’t take into account soil fertility, quality of forage and drought. The 4” residual stand of forage you leave is just as important to understand and develop an eye for as it is to know the exact square footage of a paddock per animal unit. (Actually Joel Salatin would recommend no less then 6” for optimum performance.
@inseasonmarketandnursery6616 жыл бұрын
how is 10" of forage per inch 300 lbs...
@prbymsdeb90086 жыл бұрын
eric firpo it is what the average YIELD of forage will be. They didn’t show it in the video but there are multiple ways to determine the pounds per inch. Have to determine the average height in inches of forage. And pasture condition and forage type affect the numbers.
@yahsomeacres78162 жыл бұрын
I am confused on how this guy came up with 300 lbs of forage in 1 inch of Pasture which is 10 inches tall.
@suchandradasi3 жыл бұрын
"A million" that's me
@suchandradasi3 жыл бұрын
What happens if you let them graze all 10 inches? That's what a pig could do and I'm planning on getting my pig to graze down to the roots so I can plant something new. But what about my dairy heifers....
@adolthitler5 жыл бұрын
1600lb? You just jumped to that......
@saidaqil5 жыл бұрын
1600 lbs for 1 cow/day? What he said at the end of calculation? A cow need to feed only 3% of its body weight.
@PeterSedesse3 жыл бұрын
he has 60 cows.
@seveculham93075 жыл бұрын
This video was complete trash. No offence. Just didnt help at all. Lol
@Black_Kakari4 жыл бұрын
If only they were metric Such a shame
@chrisreid33585 жыл бұрын
Jesus, just use the metric system already
@americaskitchentable1072 жыл бұрын
We been to the moon, so we'll use whatever measurements we want.
@fooddude99215 жыл бұрын
This video was worthless. How did you get the 1600lbs? Boom just magically appeared from the ether I guess. How did you get 300lbs per in? Boom magically appeared. 1800/1600 is not .8 it's 1.2. etc., etc. C'mon John.....
@spuriouseffect4 жыл бұрын
This explains it better. www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1167344.pdf
@Rhodes_Land_Services_LLC4 жыл бұрын
Boom, in the 18 total videos by John and Troy they explain it all. In the previous video troy said he has 60 cows at 900lbs each. Cows eat 3% of their weight per day. 60x900x.03=1620. So because it a guestimation they said 1600lbs per day for 60 heifers. Hope this helps a year later😁