How Many Cows/horses Per Acre???

HUBERT · #1 11/30/05, 06:58 AM

Does anybody know where I can find facts ? The town I live in is trying to get new zoning to say 5 acres per animal unit and a cow or a horse is two animal units.This means I can only have 1 cow or horse per 10 acres.

What I am looking for is any kind of documents that say what is a recommended # per acre.

Please help

moopups · #2 11/30/05, 07:10 AM

This varies much too wide to answer, all depends on what type of grass, what amount of moisture is present, how old or big is each animal? Here in Florida one animal per acre is considered close to too much in that the pasture grass is not as it is in other areas. What is the soil PH? What amount of rainfall is annual? Which type of grass is present? I don't think this can be answered without major info input.

Randy Rooster · #3 11/30/05, 07:11 AM

USDA puts out a book covering every soil type in every county in the US. In it it tells how many animals an acre of the differing soil types can support. Find your place on the map, figure out your soil type and there you go. Check with the soil conservation office to get a copy for your area.

Ken Scharabok · #4 11/30/05, 07:12 AM

Animal units per acre varies from area to area, and may be different for me than my neighbor. About the only thing you can do is to talk to your county ag agent to get their opinion. However, the five acres per animal unit appears to be an arbritary figure arrived at just because it is easy to apply. Also question what is an animal unit. For example, it might be a cow/calf pair or horse with foal. Two steer calves may be considered one animal/unit.

Randy Rooster · #5 11/30/05, 07:13 AM

It is in the book for your county. That will be your proof. Here is a link that may be of some help.

http://soils.usda.gov/

travlnusa · #6 11/30/05, 07:18 AM

Here are the laws for MI:

http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7...9799--,00.html

Most locations consider 1000lbs to equal one unit. Then based on that they say that a mature cow is 1.5, horse is 1 unit, 3000+ chickens would be one unit, etc.

Good luck.

HUBERT · #7 11/30/05, 07:27 AM

It's not a question of pasture or soil type ,they just want to turn our rural life into city life.All the people on zoning board came from big city and want to change this area to suit themselves.

Thanks for all your help everyone