What should my stocking rate be?
One of the most common questions I get is what kind of stocking rate is appropriate for my property. When we consider stocking rates for beef cattle we have to remember that one lactating, thousand pound cow will consume 2.5% to 3% of her body weight or roughly 25 to 30 pounds of air dry forage daily. 1 cow/calf pair is an animal unit (AU). A good rule of thumb is to “take half and leave half” but we have to account for another quarter of the forage that will get trampled, wasted, decompose, etc. So estimate based on 25% of forage production for a conservative stocking rate in an average rainfall year. So a thousand pound cow with a calf at her side will eat approximately 26 pounds of forage daily or 9,490 pounds per year.
Improved pasture differs greatly than native rangeland in terms of stocking rate due to management of fertility, weeds, etc. General stocking rates for Navarro County are 1 AU per 3-5 acres of fertilized improved pasture and 1 AU per 10-12 acres of rangeland BUT depend on location and management.
The only way to truly know what your appropriate stocking rate, is to quantify your forage production (clip and weigh grass or forage plots) and then base a stocking rate on the traditional range management principles and allow for variations in rainfall. A good stocking rate is the first step to good range management and sustainable agriculture. For more information go to the following web address: http://animalscience.tamu.edu/images/pdf/beef/beef-rdmt-stocking-rate.pdf
Friday, February 6, 2009
Result Demonstration Reports Available Online
You may not be familiar with the term result demonstration. This is an effort to demonstrate or evaluate certain agricultural practices under local conditions and obtain unbiased data to assist farmers, ranchers and other land managers. These can take a variety of forms or designs and fall into many different categories (field crops, forage crops, beef, horticulture, Integrated Pest Management, etc). The data gathered from these demonstrations can be used by agricultural producers to make management decisions that will ideally optimize profits, serve as a best management practice and conserve natural resources. This can best be described as "on the farm research" where an agricultural producer, county agent and a specialist work together to implement a demonstration and evaluate it.
These reports are available from a variety of sources: demonstration handbooks, cd's and internet websites. Reports from Navarro County agricultural demonstrations are currently available on the internet at http://navarro-tx.tamu.edu/PubCat.cfm?COUNTY=Navarro&CatID=2827. As these reports become available they will be posted here. Other reports from across the state are also available online. A good website for field crop and specialty crop reports is http://varietytesting.tamu.edu/.
It is always important when using this kind of information to compare different locations over time (over several years if possible). The more information you have, the more you can rely on your management decision.
Picture by Derek Scasta
You may not be familiar with the term result demonstration. This is an effort to demonstrate or evaluate certain agricultural practices under local conditions and obtain unbiased data to assist farmers, ranchers and other land managers. These can take a variety of forms or designs and fall into many different categories (field crops, forage crops, beef, horticulture, Integrated Pest Management, etc). The data gathered from these demonstrations can be used by agricultural producers to make management decisions that will ideally optimize profits, serve as a best management practice and conserve natural resources. This can best be described as "on the farm research" where an agricultural producer, county agent and a specialist work together to implement a demonstration and evaluate it.
These reports are available from a variety of sources: demonstration handbooks, cd's and internet websites. Reports from Navarro County agricultural demonstrations are currently available on the internet at http://navarro-tx.tamu.edu/PubCat.cfm?COUNTY=Navarro&CatID=2827. As these reports become available they will be posted here. Other reports from across the state are also available online. A good website for field crop and specialty crop reports is http://varietytesting.tamu.edu/.
It is always important when using this kind of information to compare different locations over time (over several years if possible). The more information you have, the more you can rely on your management decision.
Picture by Derek Scasta
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