About the Pasture Requirement Calculator
Grazing area needed for a herd, with rotational paddock sizing.
Also known as: grazing area calculator, how much land per cow, paddock size calculator, rotational grazing.
How to use this calculator
- Enter number of animals, dry matter intake per animal, pasture growth, utilisation and the other fields.
- The result updates instantly as you type — press Calculate (or Enter) at any time.
- Review the breakdown shown under the main result.
- Use Copy result or Share to save the answer or send a link with your inputs.
Formula
hectares = daily demand ÷ (pasture growth × utilisation)
Worked example
Using the values pre-filled in the calculator above:
- Number of animals = 40
- Dry matter intake per animal = 12 kg/day
- Pasture growth = 55 kg DM/ha/day
- Utilisation = 70 %
- Paddocks in the rotation = 8
- Days per paddock = 3
the calculator returns:
- Grazing area needed: 12.468 hectares
- Daily dry matter demand: 480 kg
- Effective pasture yield: 38.5 kg DM/ha/day
- Paddock size: 37.403 ha