Calculating grass supply

Grass supply or available grass cover is the amount of grass various groups of stock are offered.

To calculate how much grass is on offer and available to the stock the estimated quantity of grass left after grazing (post-grazing) must be subtracted from the total measured amount of grass in the field before grazing (pre-grazing). This is explained in the following calculation.

  grass supply or “available grass cover”
       = (pre-grazing cover – post-grazing cover) x grazing area (ha)

Typical pre-grazing and post-grazing covers for different classes of livestock in the springtime are highlighted in the Table below. In order to maintain high grass quality it is important to ensure stock enter and leave the grazing areas at the target grass covers.