Pasture Stocking Rate
Available forage and animal-unit months per acre.
About Pasture Stocking Rate
Grazable forage is the yield times usable share, then divided by the pounds an animal unit needs monthly. Right stocking matches grazing to regrowth, the closest thing to preventing both overgrazing and wasted grass.
Formula
Pasture Stocking Rate
Available = acres x yield x utilization; AUM = forage / pounds per AUM
- AUM
- Forage a 1,000 lb cow consumes in a month
Worked example
With the default values below, Pasture Stocking Rate returns Available Forage of 120,000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Pasture acresminimum 0.01
- 20
- Forage yieldminimum 0 lb/ac/yr
- 12,000 lb/ac/yr
- Utilizationaccepts 5–95 %
- 50 %
- Per AUM allowanceminimum 100 lb
- 915 lb
Results
- Available Forage
- 120,000 lb
- Total Capacity
- 131.1 AUM
- Capacity per Acre
- 6.56 AUM
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Pasture Stocking Rate
- 3Available Forage= 120,000 lb
- 4Total Capacity= 131.1 AUM
- 5Capacity per Acre= 6.56 AUM
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Pasture Stocking Rate calculated?
Available = acres x yield x utilization; AUM = forage / pounds per AUM Grazable forage is the yield times usable share, then divided by the pounds an animal unit needs monthly.
Why does Pasture Stocking Rate matter?
Right stocking matches grazing to regrowth, the closest thing to preventing both overgrazing and wasted grass.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 4 inputs: Pasture acres, Forage yield, Utilization, Per AUM allowance. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.