How many animals can I graze on my property? 

 

A very important question, but also a very difficult one to give an exact answer to. Each property will be unique in many ways: land size, topography, soil type/fertility, rainfall, irrigation, and grass type. Each of these will have an impact on how many, and what type of animal you can graze.

To calculate the number of grazing animals on your property you need to know a few things: 

  • Effective grazing area. 

  • Number and kind of animals you want to graze. 

  • Change in pasture quality through the seasons. In the middle of Winter and Summer there can be almost zero growth in some places.  

  • Your ability to buy in extra feed or gain access to additional grazing (at short notice too if need be). 

A simple way to approximate a good stocking rate is by calculating the livestock units (LSU) for your animals on farm. 

1 LSU is assigned to the feed required over one year for a 55kg ewe raising one lamb. Some properties can sustain 5 LSU/ha in the Spring and only 0.5 LSU/ha in the Winter. An LSU/ha of between 1 – 10 is normal.  

Below are a few tables from the Farmlands Lifestyle Guide for LSU per head of animal.  

Tip: 1 acre = 0.4 hectares

To calculate your acreage into hectares multiply by 0.4

12 acres x 0.4 = 4.8 hectares

It’s important to note that almost all sheep today are going to have an LSU value of 1.2 – 1.3 if they are raising lambs. Sheep are much heavier due to breeding and better nutrition and therefore require more feed. 

Goats can be assumed to be a similar LSU to sheep.  

It is also important to note that a property that can sustain 10 sheep in Spring may only be able to sustain two in Winter. Grass grows best in Spring and Autumn but can struggle in Summer and Winter. Your neighbours and/or local farmers will know very well what the grass growth is like year round and they may be an invaluable resource.  

Example 1:  

A block of 10 acres on South Eyre Rd, with a grazing capability of 7 acres (as land area and grazing area are two different things). Has summer irrigation.  

7 acres x 0.4 = 2.8 hectares 
One horse (not in work), two calves, one 3yo cow and five sheep (raising lambs) 
= (1 x 10) + (2 x 2) + (1 x 4.5) + (5 x 1.25) 
= 24.75 LSU  

24.75 LSU ÷ 2.8ha = 8.8 LSU/ha  

Example 2: 

A similar block of 7 acres of effective grazing, with an owner wanting to know how many animals they can have.  

7 acres = 2.8 hectares 
2.8ha x (2 to 10 LSU/ha) = 5.6 to 28 LSU total on property 
This equates to 4 – 22 sheep total (which is a huge range!) 

Depending on the property type our recommendation would be to start with 5 – 10 sheep or something similar in LSU and work up from there.   

Key points:

Start small and work your way up. It is better to have too much feed than too little!  

The seasons will drastically change the amount of grass on offer and therefore the amount of stock you can have on property.  

Having access to supplemental feed on short notice is critically important.