1. Guidelines for Setting “Proper” Stocking Rate
Range Plants -- OBJ 2: PPT
Guidelines for Setting “Proper” Stocking Rate
There are 16 slides in this presentation

2. Natural &
Human
Resources
Grazing
Management
Decisions
Community
Response
Livestock Species
cattle, sheep, goats or horses
Stocking Rate
how many animals
Grazing System
season of grazing
season of rest
duration of grazing
Climate
Topography
Veg. Community
Wildlife
Mgmt. Philosophy
& Goals
Vegetation Community
Livestock Production
Wildlife Community
Important point: Once grazing management decisions are made, there are continual interactions between livestock, wildlife, & vegetation

3. Four Grazing Mgmt Factors:
Number of Animals (How Many?)
Type of Animal (What?)
Time of Grazing (When?)
Duration or Length of Grazing (How Long?)

4. Carrying Capacity
The number of animals that a piece of land can support on a long-term basis without causing damage to the ecosystem.
Land and vegetation determine grazing capacity
Expressed as animals/area/year (usually acres per AUM per year)
Land is usually bought and sold on this basis

5. Stocking Rate
The number of animals a land manager places on a piece of land for a specified period of time.
Must include 3 elements:
Number of animals or Animal Unit
Specific area (acres or hectares)
Specific period of time (days or months)
Most important grazing decision because it affects:

6. Animal Unit (AU) 1,000 pounds of grazing animal … ruminant
AUE #/AU
Cow =
Horse =
Yearling Steer =
Sheep =
Jackrabbit =
Animal Unit Equivalent (AUE) = A conversion factor reflecting the # of AU in an average animal

7. Forage Demand of Animal
Ruminants
Hind-Gut Fermentors
Eat 2.5% of body weight/day in dry matter of forage.
Cattle, sheep, goats
Deer, elk, bighorn sheep, moose, etc.
Eat 3.5% of body weight/day in dry matter of forage.
Horses
Rabbits and rodents

8. Animal Unit Month (AUM)
Amount of forage an AU will eat in a month
How many pounds is this?
AU = 1,000 pound of ruminant grazing animal
Ruminants eat 2.5% of body weight each day
30 days in a month
1,000 lb ×2.5% ×30 days = 750 lbs of forage

9. Range Plants -- OBJ 2: PPT
Proper Stocking Rate?
Range Health standpoint
There are 16 slides in this presentation

10. Basis for Stocking Rates
Proper stocking based on maintaining sufficient plant residue for:
Maintain soil condition
Reduce erosion
Add organic matter
Photosynthetic material to provide carbohydrates for recover
Forage for other animals in ecosystem

11. Utilization Guidelines: Based on ecological research
% Use of Major Plants
30-40
40-50
Range Type
Sagebrush grasslands
Shortgrass prairie
Coniferous Forest
Oak woodlands
Research shows that an amount of biomass can be removed each year and the plant can still regrow and sustain itself from year to year.
These “sustainable” levels of utilization are called “Proper Use Factors”

12. % Root Growth Reduction
% Grass Plan Removed
% Root Growth Reduction
10% 0%
20%
30%
40%
50%
2-4%
60%
70%
78%
80%
100%
90%
By examining the table, one can see that by trying to "squeeze in" an additional 10% of harvest, 50% of the roots stop growing.
Basis for “Allowable Use” or “Recommended Use” Level
Total Forage × Recommended Use = Usable Forage Supply

13. Heavy use ≠ Overgrazing
Overgrazing = repeated heavy grazing such that damage to the plant community occurs.
Overstocking = heavy grazing during a specific season such that high levels of utilization are observable.
Overstocking does not always lead to Overgrazing

14. For Rangeland Health: Set Stocking Rates Below Carrying Capacity
Healthy soil.
Slows weedy plant invasion.
Improves drought resistance.
Improves condition of degraded land.

15. Proper Stocking Rate?
Animal Production standpoint

16. Range Plants -- OBJ 2: PPT
Stocking rate affects cattle gains:
Production per animal
As more animals graze a pasture the rate at which each individual animal gains wait can be reduced
There are 16 slides in this presentation

17. Range Plants -- OBJ 2: PPT
Stocking rate affects cattle gains:
Production per animal
Competition for existing forage
High quality forage reduced and animals need to each lower quality plants
Animals need to work harder and travel farther for forage
Increased stress and interaction with other animals can increase disease
As more animals graze a pasture the rate at which each individual animal gains wait can be reduced
There are 16 slides in this presentation

18. Range Plants -- OBJ 2: PPT
Stocking rate affects total production:
Production per acre
As animals are added to a pasture the production per acre increases until each animal begins to have lower condition.
There are 16 slides in this presentation

19. Proper stocking rate?
maximum
per animal
maximum
per acre

20. Optimal Stocking Rate – between max/animal and max/acre
Proper stocking rate?
maximum
per animal
maximum
per acre
Optimal Stocking Rate – between max/animal and max/acre

21. For Livestock Production: Set Stocking Rates At or Below Carrying Capacity
Desirable production per animal
Optimal production of animals per acre
What is “Desirable” or “Optimal” depends on the managers goals and objectives.

22. How do you set stocking rate? Balance supply with demand
Simple Four–Step Method

23. 4-step or Forage Demand Method
Calculate usable forage
Adjust for terrain, water, or other constraints
Calculate forage demand of animals
Calculate stocking rate

24. 4-step or Forage Demand Method
The forage demand method is used:
When you have no stocking information from previous years
To estimate carrying capacity in biological surveys or land appraisal
When considering changes in kind or class of animals

25. Establish stocking rate based on:
Past experience
Current situation
Long-range weather forecast
Financial goals
Etc.

26. Set a Stocking Rate and Then Monitor!
With this method stocking rate is determined by trial and error over years and then monitored by:
Range Trend = changes in plant composition or rangeland health over time

27. Grazing Principles Which animal -Animal Species & Class
How may animals –Stocking Rate
When to grazing or not graze -Grazing System
Match number and type of animal to the rangeland vegetation, topography and climate