Quick facts
- Physical space, bunk space and water space are all important factors for stocking density.
- Overstocking can result in decreased cow comfort and productivity.
- A windbreak is one of the most important things you can provide your cattle to help them stay comfortable.
- Ideally, a bedded pack area should provide 100 square feet of space per cow.
- Provide two linear feet of bunk space per cow for the best results.
- Provide one to two linear inches of water space per cow.
- Producers should use the most limited resource to determine the appropriate cow numbers.
What is stocking density?
Stocking density refers to the number of animals placed in a pen or other space compared to the calculated number of animals for the given environment.
- For example, if a pen can hold 100 animals based on the space available and you fill that pen with 100 animals, the stocking density is 100%.
- If you were to place 150 animals in that same space, now the pen is overstocked, and the stocking density is 150%.
Producers should strive for 100% stocking density in most situations as this balances cow comfort, productivity and economic stability.
Why is stocking density important?
When cattle are stocked appropriately in their living space, they are more comfortable and more productive. Appropriate stocking density:
- Reduces stress.
- Improves health and decreases illness.
- Creates uniform body condition allowing for better nutritional decisions and control.
- Decreases competition for resources among cattle.
- Increases productivity, including average daily gain, milk yield, reproduction efficiency and feed efficiency.
What happens if stocking density is too high?
When cattle are overstocked, cow comfort and productivity could suffer. Overstocking can lead to:
- Increased stress.
- Increased competition for resources among cattle.
- Increased health issues.
- A wide range of body conditions making nutritional decisions for the group difficult.
- Decreased productivity, including lower average daily gain, milk yield, reproduction efficiency and feed efficiency.
What factors influence cattle stocking density in an outdoor area?
Windbreak
Especially in the winter, a windbreak is one of the most important things you can provide your cattle to help them stay comfortable. Windbreaks can be naturally occurring (trees) or man-made (buildings, rows of stacked bales, other structures). The windbreak should ideally cover the bedded pack, feeding area, and watering area.
Bedded pack
A bedded pack provides a comfortable place for cattle to relax and ruminate. A bedded pack also keeps cattle warm and dry and should provide 100 square feet per cow.
Adequate bunk space limits competition for resources, especially when there are mixed age groups in an area.
Having sufficient bunk space will also produce a group of cattle that have a similar body condition.
- Having uniform body condition within a group makes nutrition decisions more applicable and makes maintaining body condition goals more achievable.
- Correct body condition management can result in improved performance in all aspects of your cattle operation.
- Provide two linear feet of bunk space per cow for the best results.
Water is often the forgotten nutrient, despite it being the most important. Proper hydration is essential for proper immune function and overall health, and water drives dry matter intake, meaning it is also the most crucial nutrient for performance.
One to two linear inches of water space per cow is the recommended water space.
How to determine stocking density
Appropriate stocking density is determined by three main factors - physical space, bunk space, and water space.
To provide the most comfortable and productive environment for cattle, producers have two options:
- Build facilities to match their desired cattle numbers, or
- Match the number of cattle to their most limiting factor.
- Windbreak = cover most (ideally all) of the bedded pack, feeding area, and watering area
- Bedded pack space = 100 square feet per cow
- Bunk space = 2 linear feet per cow
- Water space = 1 to 2 linear inches per cow
If you know how many cattle you have or want to have, you can use that number to determine what specifications your facilities need to have for comfortable and productive cattle.
Example: you want to have 100 cows in an outdoor pen overwinter
- Bedded pack space = 100 square feet per cow x 100 cows = 10,000 square feet
- You can configure this 10,000 square feet in whatever way best fits the space you have to work with: the area can be a 100ft x 100ft square or two 100ft x 50ft rectangles, whatever works best.
- Bunk space = 2 linear feet per cow x 100 cows = 200 linear feet of bunk space
- Like the bedded pack space, this bunk can be configured how it works best for your space - one long bunk, two shorter bunks, four short bunks, etc. Remember that you can count both sides of the bunk if cows can access both sides.
- Water space = 1 to 2 linear inches per cow x 100 cows = 100 to 200 linear inches of water
- Like the bunks, you can count all sides of the waterer if the cows can access all the sides. Sometimes multiple water locations are preferred to prevent a boss cow from monopolizing the only water access.
If you already have an area you would like to use for cattle, you can use the specifications of the facility to determine how many comfortable, productive cattle the area can support. Producers should use the most limited resource to determine the appropriate cow numbers.
Example: a facility has the following specifications
- An area behind a windbreak where you can build a bedded pack that is 100ft x 100ft
- One fenceline bunk providing 150 linear feet of bunk space
- Two waterers, each with 80 linear inches of water space
Each of these specifications, when considered alone, could provide for the following cow numbers:
- 100ft x 100ft =10,000 square feet @ 100 square feet per cow = 100 cows
- 150 linear feet of bunk space @ 2 linear feet per cow = 75 cows
- Two waterers providing a total of 160 linear inches @ 1 to 2 linear inches per cow = 80 to 160 cows
In this example, the facility’s bedded pack space and water space can support 100 cows, but the bunk space can only accommodate 75 cows.
To have comfortable, productive cows in this facility, we have to use the most limiting factor to determine our cow numbers, meaning the ideal number of cows for this area is 75 cows. If you wanted to have 100 cows in this area, you would need to add 50 feet of bunk space somehow.
Reviewed in 2021