Livestock stocking calculator
Enter how many of each animal you keep and how much grazing you have. We convert everything to livestock units (LU) and show your stocking rate per hectare.
| Animal | LU each | How many? |
|---|---|---|
| Dairy cow | 1 | |
| Beef suckler cow | 1 | |
| Cattle, 1 to 2 years | 0.7 | |
| Cattle, under 1 year (calves) | 0.4 | |
| Ewe (with lambs at foot) | 0.1 | |
| Goat | 0.1 | |
| Breeding sow | 0.5 | |
| Horse or pony | 0.8 | |
| Laying hen | 0.014 |
- Total LU
- 0
- LU per hectare
- —
Sensible stocking rates vary enormously with grass quality, soil, rainfall, the season and whether you are supplementing with feed. Rough grazing carries far fewer animals than good lowland pasture — ask on the forums for what works locally.
Daily dry-matter intake
A rule of thumb: most grazing animals eat about 2–3% of their bodyweight in dry matter each day.
≈ — kg dry matter per head per day
Livestock unit coefficients follow the widely used EU convention and are a planning guide only. Scheme rules, nitrate and other regulations set their own limits — always check the current rules for your holding.