How Much Does a Cow Eat?

by Steven W. Cussins, Rangeland Management Specialist
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Ulysses, Kansas

Did you ever think about how much a cow eats in a day? If we ate the same amount, that would be like eating 5 pounds of groceries a day for the rest of your life. A dry cow will consume 2.5 percent of her total body weight per day. For example, a 1,000- pound dry cow x 2.5 percent = 25 pounds of forage per day that she will consume every day. Throughout the year a cow will consume approximately 30 pounds of forage per day or 3.0 percent of her body weight.

So how much will she consume in a month? If she is dry, she will consume approximately 750 pounds of air-dried forage. The typical range site in southwest Kansas produces about 3,000 pounds of forage/acre in an average year with only 25 percent available to graze or 750 pounds of forage available. It will take 4,500 pounds of forage to feed a 1,000 pound dry cow for six months. On average a 1,000-pound cow with a calf will consume 3.0 to 3.5 percent of their body weight or 5,400 pounds in six months (example: 1,000-pound cow x 3.0 percent will consume 30 pounds per day or 5,400 pounds in six months).

Now let us look at how many animals you could graze on a 1,000 acres of average rangeland in southwest Kansas. Production will vary between 2,200 to 3,000 pounds of forage per acre with only 25 percent available to be used by the animal. Typical grasses for this kind of rangeland are little bluestem, sideoats grama, and blue grama. If you have 1,000 acres of native grass as described above x 3,000 pounds/acre x 25 percent useable forage, you will have 750,000 pounds of forage available. If a cow/calf pair consumes 30 pounds/day, your monthly requirement per pair will be approximately 900 pounds, or 5,400 pounds for 180 grazing days. To determine the total number of animals to be grazed, you divide total production (750,000 pounds) by your six months of forage demand per animal (5,400 pounds) to determine you could graze approximately 138 cows with calves for six months.

As you can see, a cow needs a lot to eat and managing your rangeland includes leaving some behind to rebuild the plant health and vigor.

Your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) office or conservation district office located at your local county USDA Service Center can give you assistance in developing sound grazing management based on the production of your range lands.

For more information about NRCS programs, visit the Kansas NRCS Web site at www.ks.nrcs.usda.gov.

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Last Modified: 12/11/2008