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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

Oh rot!  The USDA has calculation pages for every state!  They take into 
consideration, among other things, Average body weight, estimated DMI, daily 
DMI for a single animal, daily DMI for the entire herd, how to determine 
paddock optimum paddock size, grazing periods and "rest" periods, gives 
averages for various animals (lactataing dairy cow, milking sheep/goats, 
growing stock [steers, heifers, lambs], beef cow/calf, ewe/lamb, adult 
non-lactating stock, how to figure the DM (average, low and high), gives 
average/approx. weights for various livestock and number of animals per 1000 
lb/au, etc.

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Jones" <billj AT harborside.com>
> >
> I don't suppose so, since so many properties seem to have the same
> steers on them year after year (well, not the exact same animals of
> course).  Somehow when you go to buy a ranch property, and you ask the
> old fart, "so how many head of cattle you reckon this'll keep," they
> have to be able to give you some answer.  The details for how it's
> calculated are well-defined by the USDA.  It assumes that everybody's
> land is snowbound for six months, so that properties from radically
> different climates can be compared on the same scale.  But on my land,
> without snow, there's actually a "winter carrying capacity".  I imagine
> it's about a third of fourth of the summer carrying capacity, so I hope
> to keep a ram and three ewes over the winter, also with no feed.  I
> don't intend to push it to the limit, because they start gnawing tree
> bark.  At this point I keep animals only seasonally, since I'm a
> snowbird, but within 5 years we'll both be able to move here full time.
> Just in time, eh?  I hope so.
>
> Bill
> S. Oregon coast
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