Three linked views built from one set of farm data: annual feed capacity, seasonal supply against demand, and the field-by-field feed wedge with a grazing rotation. The first two are planning models; the feed wedge is what is actually standing in the fields today.
All figures indicative. Measured field covers, not the annual model, are the best guide to current feed.
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1 · Annual capacityHow much feed can the farm grow, and broadly how many animals can it support?
2 · Seasonal supply & demandWhen is forage production ahead of or behind animal demand?
3 · Feed wedge & rotationWhat feed is standing in the fields today, and how should it be allocated?
The whole-farm feed budget in kilograms of dry matter: utilisable forage from grazing, winter covers and supplementary feed, set against annual livestock demand. Carrying capacity is worked from feed, not from livestock units.
Indicative forage-based capacity
Test one livestock enterprise at a time. Tick the groups that belong together (a breeding group and its followers), choose how much of the farm's feed that enterprise gets, and the calculator scales the breeding numbers. It does not scale unrelated stock.
Livestock units — secondary benchmark only
Four feed resources, kept separate because they behave differently. Grazed pasture and leys are annual production spread over a growth curve; winter covers and supplementary feed are finite amounts tied to the months they are fed.
Permanent pasture
UK farm-level measurements vary widely. AHDB estimates average annual production around 4.7 t DM/ha on beef farms and 7.5 t DM/ha on dairy farms. Use farm measurements where available.
Herbal ley
Herbal and multispecies leys can be highly productive, but performance depends strongly on establishment, fertility, species composition, moisture and management. Do not assume they always out-yield permanent pasture.
Winter cover crops
A finite standing crop grazed off over a set window, not annual grass growth. Available feed = area × standing yield × utilisation.
Supplementary feed
This calculator models the grazing platform. Conserved forage entered here is treated as additional feed available to grazing livestock, whether it was bought in or produced elsewhere on the farm. Available DM = fresh quantity × DM% × (1 − wastage), allocated across the feeding months.
Planning context: UK evidence suggests annual pasture production varies widely. AHDB has reported averages around 4.7 t DM/ha/year for beef farms and 7.5 t DM/ha/year for dairy farms. UK modelling has estimated approximately 3.1 t DM/ha for rough grazing, 7.4 t DM/ha for permanent grassland and 9.8 t DM/ha for temporary grassland. High-performing measured grazing farms may exceed 10\u201312 t DM/ha/year.
One demand engine for all stock: head × average liveweight × dry matter demand as a share of liveweight × days in the month. Pick a profile to fill in sensible monthly values from dates, then open the monthly view to adjust any month, for example progressive lamb sales.
Demand percentages are grazing-planning allocations, not precise intake predictions. Broad bands: restricted ~1%, maintenance ~1.5–2%, late pregnancy / catch-up ~2.5–3%, lactation / young breeding stock ~3–3.5%, growing stock ~3.5–4%+. Every value is editable.
Two linked views of the farm's seasonal feed position. Average daily forage growth shows how quickly the grazing platform is producing dry matter through the year. Monthly feed availability then converts that growth into utilisable forage, adds winter crops and supplementary feed, and compares the resulting feed supply with livestock demand.
Average daily forage growth by month (kg DM/ha/day)
Gross biological growth, area-weighted across the grazing platform. Click a legend item to hide it. Utilisation is not applied here.
Monthly feed availability vs livestock demand (t DM)
Monthly balance — total feed available minus demand (t DM)
Growth rate is average gross biological growth (kg DM/ha/day); monthly forage production is growth rate × hectares × days; utilisable forage is production after utilisation losses; feed availability adds winter covers and supplementary feed. Seasonal distribution varies by region, soil, rainfall and year, so the annual figure sets the total and the curve only distributes it. A monthly deficit does not mean the stock cannot be carried, standing forage and management can bridge it; the feed wedge shows what is actually standing today.
The current feed inventory: what is standing in each field today. This is the best picture of real feed, and it overrides the annual and seasonal models where they disagree. Build a rotation by choosing the mob, ordering the fields and setting a start date.
Sets which month's livestock demand to measure against.
Leave-behind cover; overridable per field below.
Combine the mobs actually grazing these fields. Stock elsewhere should be left out.
Feed wedge — current cover by field (kg DM/ha), highest to lowest
Fields
Enter each field once. Order here is your grazing order for the rotation below, set it with the arrows. Untick a field to leave it out of this rotation.
Grazing rotation
Planned rotation duration is the feed allocated to the ticked fields divided by the selected mob's daily demand. It describes how long that feed will last. It does not prescribe the correct recovery period, which should be judged from pasture growth, plant condition, season and management objectives.