Stocking rate of cattle

[alextacy]

Hi there,

Does anyone know how many cattle, or livestock units equivalent can be stocked in paddocks?

I'm doing a design, but know little about cattle & I can't find many sources that have this info.

I'm in Zimbabwe, sub-tropical, ~825mm each wet season & no rainfall for the rest of the year; 1450m above sea level. Deep granitic sands. Currently it is open range where the cows wander around all over the place, munching on veld grass in the summer (rainy) season, and whatever they can find in the dry.

As part of the design I want to create paddocks that are surrounded by fodder trees (leucaena, tagasaste, etc), and with larger trees (eg. carob, Inga) planted (& fenced) in the paddocks. I have about 12 hectares that I can use, but want to save some land for increasing the remnant bushland and some other land for a woodlot.

I'm trying to work out (i) how big should the paddocks be; and (ii) how many cattle is it ok to stock, given a 3-7 day rotation based on the condition of the pasture.

Fodder trees will be fenced during wet season so that there will be green fodder during the dry season. There will also be a hectare of fodder bank set aside, purely for cut & carry feed in very dry periods.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Alexis

[gardenlen]

g'day alexis,

almost how long is a piece of string, with your rainfall average and good land over here which we once had, i would suggest around 1 full sized beast to every 4 to 6 acres, now if a drought comes along you may have to manage that out toward 1 to 10 acres. this also depends on quality of grass the poorer the quality the more they need. and available water, i think the rule is cattle need around 60k/litres of water per year each. then you need to factor in at least 2 paddocks for rotational grazing and if you are going to live on teh block i would be suggesting at least 5 acres set aside for you and your family and infrastructure, include a dam(not to let animals water directly from dam use a device to a water trough) in that so it may even have to go out to 10 acres.

then if you add in horses fussy eaters their grazing rate needed can be more than cattle need. not sure but smaller animals usually rated at 2 per full sized beast.

talk to local old timers for wisdom in grazing rates.

one thing lots who go tree change never consider grazing rates & how much land they need.

len

[alextacy]

Hi Len, thanks for the info... yeah it is a bit of the question about how long is a piece of string! The 50 acres we have to play with is just for the cattle - have another 120 for other uses, then 80 or so of remnant bushland.

Unfortunately dams seem like they are pretty much a no-go. We have sand as deep as you could ever dig - boreholes are going down 100 ft or more and still pulling up sand. The only clay anywhere around comes in the form of ant hill soil. Not being an engineer i'm not really sure how much clay dam construction would take. Seeing as the old termite mounds in the area are all disappearing for construction (mainly bricks) i'm a bit loathe to decimate the ones on this property. If I could seal some sand using that clay it would be worth giving it a go, maybe with a couple of contour dams.

The cattle currently get taken back to a kraal every evening (mainly so that they don't get nicked!) and they water there from a bore.

Thanks for the advice - I didn't quite catch the last bit, though. Did you mean that many people that go over to forage tree from pasture never go back to pasture? I know that for plants like Leucaena the recommended feed rate is ~40% of feed; still need to get the bulk roughage in from elsewhere, but there are probably suitable trees that can provide this as well.
That system will just mean lazy cows & a busy cowherd (lots of cut & carry) rather than the other way around!!

Cheers,

A

[janahn]

As a general rule you need 10 kg of dry matter equivilant per day, per 450kg beast.

Take grass from 1 square metre and dry it in your microwave or out in the sun. multiple x 10,000 and that will tell you how much dry matter you have per hectare. the unknown then is rain fall. best to always allow 30% minimum of grass to remain standing, so grass 1 metre tall should be eaten back to about 30cm. so now you know how much available feed you have in the paddock until it grows back.

this method allows maximum production to be maintained by allowing grass to develop maximum energy. other variables include the introduction of browse shrubs, saltbush, leauceana....etc. Grass grows best when it is allowed to seed.

a very long topic actually, but that is my bit.

Leo www.janahn.com.au

[gardenlen]

g'day A,

the sandy soil makes a difference as well would figure it having an affect on nutrition level and mix of grasses, hard to add organic matter over that area and get some benefit.

usually the rule of thumb is if you need to bring in clay (always expensive) to ceate a dam then don't is what i would suggest.

also cattle do better if they can chew their cud in the shade. also not sure if it as good if cattle need to wait until end of day to get a drink? the ones we had on our block for a while usually drank twice a day at least.

what i meant was many go buy land then try to find out later the grazing rate and then it may be too late as the land may not support their stocking dreams so then lots of hand feeding comes in and that is un-sustainable as i see it. yes you can research other plants like leucania whatever to add is as extra fodder, this would all come under developing mixed pasture/grazing.

for me i'd be suggesting using native plants as much as possible as what i have observed over here lots of pasture grass from south africa been bought in to support un-sustainable grazing parctises and the bottom line(dollars) now these grasses are well and truley pushing the native grasses out. any non-indemic plant can do that.

maybe tanks with a roof over them may give enough catchment to collect at least some water??? with that much rain we kept 3X25k/litre tans full enough for 2 peoples use even ofer the drier years down intop the 600mm's.

i can't see exctly what you have, but for me i'd also collect bush rubble and lay it along in rows along contours if you have slopes these will break down and begin to add organic matter to you soil, just and idea. even rocks piled out around the base of trees will create moisture traps and help this one from bill molleson himself if i recall correctly.

len

[alextacy]

Hi all, thank you for the good suggestions.

I'm out to see how much grass is left in a square meter, some schmuck from the farm next door decided it'd be a good idea to burn his fallow fields (they love doing this prior to ploughing) on a really hot & windy day. Needless to say we were out fighting the fire as it headed towards the farmhouse on our property. Just been watching all that ash blow away in the wind over the last two days. And they wonder why farming conditions are tough. :Hangman:

[mike]

hi, In south western australia where we get around900 mm. over the winter months and very little rain during summer, we stock at a one and a half acres for an adult animal or two and a half for a cow and calf(1hectare).This is on grass fed pasture-if your introducing shrubs and extra feed inputs you could go lower than these figures. Cheers Mike

[ho-hum]

Hello Alextacy,

I live in Katherine, Northern Territory which has a very comparable climate ie 900mm of rain and 7 or 8 months of drought. I run 15 small sized brahman cross cattle and 2 horses on about 21 hectares. I think our elevation is about 250m so our climate is more evil than yours. This is broken into 3 paddocks of about 15 untouched bush, 4 and 2. The soils are very poor. The front 6 is regularly slashed and most has been ripped. In 25 years it has gone from patchy clumps of grass to full grass cover. At first the entire property couldnt feed 4 horses for more than 6 months a year. This progress could have been achieved a lot faster but I was dirt poor and busy so it had to be incremental. Huge increases in fertility have been only as a result of judicious grazing and movement of animals. I have owned a tractor for just a year.

Anyway, I will ramble and have a go at your situation.

Twelve paddocks brilliant, now wait for rain.

Paddock one - wait till grass is about 300mm high and put the cattle in and scalp it then immediately scratch/rip the surface and plant millet. Dont worry about neat rows if you cant. Use a hoe and plant millet in clumps about one meter apart at 3-5 seeds per hole.
Paddock two - put cattle in and hammer it and plant leucena in rows of about 2 m spacings and plant millet/sorghum in the middle, on both sides of the millet plant kudzu. Please google kudzu before you introduce it - it is known as the Plant That Ate The South. The millet in this paddock is an opportunity crop that will shelter the kudzu and leucena whilst it establishes.
Paddock three to 12 - rotate as per normal but make first grazings light. Here you are just topping the pasture and encouraging root growth. Your aim should be by the end of the wet to have 500mm of grass in paddocks 3-12 and a millet/sorghum crop in paddock one that you can cut and carry to the kraal.

Leucena is a remarkable cattle fodder but requires certain microbes for cattle to digest the mimosine. An overdose of mimosine has adverse affects on cattle including weight and hair loss and sunburn. I would punt that your cattle have these microbes but to be on the safe side you can innoculate your cattle with this microbe by simply tossing goat or camel droppings into their water. Once the leucena reaches 500mm high cut the tips/tops off the leucena to encourage spread and branching. This may be all you get in season one. The leucena will respond to water and fertiliser at any time. By about next april you may wish to try a sample supervised grazing in the leucena paddock. With any luck next August you should have a leucena seed crop. Cattle eat leucena seed pods but remember the seeds pass straight through and leucena can be a weed [if you dont have grazing animals]. Plant leucena in any forgotten spots. A good kraal tree is Albizia Lebbeck which we call siris or raintree. All stages of its growth are excellent fodder especially the fallen blossom which is also a brilliant composter. It also flowers heavily in that critical pre-wet season period.

In your first year as you establish you will probably have to put the cattle out for periods. Aim to maintain grass cover in year one if you can. Build your design with a lane [extra paddock], if you have to flog a paddock do so with a view to the benefits of manure which means dont feed them at one point. Move your cut & carry feeding spot systematically around the paddock. Once growth has stopped by about next June sacrifice one paddock after another. Plant trees in your laneway, put leucena under the fence lines they may survive.

Other things for you to consider is you should have your cows calving in Mar/Apr to give the calves a maximum head start. Cull anything that isnt producing including a bull - borrow one. 1/2 hectare paddocks are better than hectare paddocks. Google 'fodder trees' and 'tropical legume fodders' there are dozens of types available. Hopefully, you will have done a permaculture design course. If in doubt plant more rather than less. Mulch everything you can. Make sure you have earthworms in your system somewhere. Shade and windbreaks are often as effective as putting fertiliser on an area. Chickens and ducks should be fed in the kraal during the day to enhance the urea content. Your lane should be your tree/bush fodder zone. Use all fencelines and stack your fodder. Pawpaw trees are great short term shelters for establishing long term trees and double as brilliant people/poultry feed. Sugar cane is a resilient stock/people food and windbreak.

Back to paddocks 3 - 12. You should be able to interplant a legume into paddocks 3 - 6 as cattle move thru the system to further enhance productivity. If you hit paddock 12 and it has stopped raining start your controlled grazing [starvation] from paddock 7 and give the legumes as long as you can. At 1400mm you can also hand plant lucerne into paddock 1 on an ad hoc basis if you can get seed.

WARNING - I am too scared to plant kudzu on my place in case it escapes but I believe it would work wonderfully in your situation as a paddock and kraal fence plant. Anywhere it can be put under severe grazing pressure at short notice it should be safe. Check with your ag department it may be a noxious weed.

This is only a fraction of what you can do but I would start along these lines. I fancy you have a large labour force handy so this system can also produce a lot of human food too.

Two additions I havent mentioned but would include in your system is the moringa tree, and vetiver grass under all fencelines. Look up both plants. Vetiver is a great plant that cattle will chew to some benefit. It acts as a fertility trap, mineral pump and will protect the bottom of the fenceline, it is a fantastic edge plant. It is not a preferred cattle fodder but they wont starve on it. It will also make basic 3 strand barbed fences nearly goat and sheep proof once well established. Animals like to eat the tips but generally leave the tough clump alone..

In the second year you can use paddock one heavily and perhaps lock-up paddock 2 & 3 for the leucena/sorghum/kudzu and use paddock one heavily. Like any system it is fine on paper but nearly always needs tweaking. My system is still evolving. I get leucena which is wild on neighbour's, he thinks I am a nut and oft commenting he should be paying for me to remove it. Note, I remove it, I dont kill it...

Ultimately you would have a kudzu, leucena, lucerne and grass mix in all paddocks. With vetiver/lemongrass fencelines. This just my long distance ponderings. Use what works for you and is working locally.

Like Len, I dunno how many cattle you can run either - how long is a piece of kudzu? Here is a conservative guess.. 4 pregnant cows in year one and maybe 8 and progeny in year 2.

cheers,

ho-hum