Q&A for How to Calculate Stocking Rates for Your Pastures

Late spring to early summer is the best time, when all plants are up and, for most tame pastures (with a lot of tame forages), the best time to clip is when grasses are in their 3rd to 4th leaf stage, and not quite pushing up a seed head. For fun and for a neat comparison, you can also clip later in the year when plants have headed out and started flowering, just to see what kind of differences you get.

Carrying capacity = AUM/acre, based on current forage yield in that area. It changes year to year, unlike stocking rate, which assumes forage yield does not change.

It really largely depends on your location and how much forage is available annually, determined by long-term carrying capacity values that typically are available from your local agricultural extension or county office. For areas with moderate to good moisture, the minimum stocking rate should be 1 to 2 AUM/acre; drier more arid areas is going to have a minimum of 0.5 to 0.25 AUM/acre or less.

Utilization rate is the percentage of plants that are eaten by the animals compared with how much is left behind to be trampled and defecated on. This is always an estimate, as there's no guarantee to get exactly 50% or 25% or 75% utilization or consumption by the animals. Visually, compared with the amount of forage that you started with right when those animals are turned in, a 50% utilization rate would be that half of the forage is already "gone" (as in eaten) by the animals, and the rest is trampled to the ground.

Calves need to be stocked at 1 to 1.5 acres per calf during the fall, but can be stocked at 2 to 3 calves per acre during the spring. Gain per acre was found to range from 400 to 900 pounds and profits averaged $88/acre.