We read the extension research so you do not have to
LivestockFarming.org gathers stocking rates, feed and water needs, breeding calendars, and health guidance from university extension services and USDA publications. We organise it by species, and every number names its source.
One question, four answers
Acres of pasture needed to carry one cow and calf for a season, by region
The same animal. The same question. A twentyfold difference in the answer. This is why we name the source on every figure and give the range instead of an average. An averaged stocking rate would be wrong in Georgia and dangerous in Wyoming.
An independent reference
For people raising animals in the United States. The audience runs from four goats on two acres to a few thousand head under contract.
Extension services and animal science departments publish solid research. The problem is where it sits. Scattered across state publications, split by species and by system, and written for producers who already have the vocabulary.
We gather that work and organise it by species. Figures get translated to the scale you actually work at, with the publishing service named beside each one.
Not a farm, not a vet
Nobody here keeps animals and reports results from them. You will find no first-person keeping claim on this site.
We do not test products. Equipment guides come from manufacturer documentation, published specifications, and verified buyer feedback. Where a point rests on owner reports, the article says so.
And we are not veterinarians. That difference matters enough on a site about large animals to get its own section, which comes next.
Where our guidance stops
A crop failure costs a season. A livestock mistake costs an animal, and sometimes a herd. Three rules follow from that, and they apply to every page here.
We describe. We do not diagnose.
An article can explain what bloat looks like, when it usually happens, and which pasture conditions bring it on.
It cannot tell you that is what your animal has. Several conditions present alike, and with large animals a wrong guess is expensive as well as slow.
A sick animal needs a vet, not a search resultWe publish no drug doses
Many livestock medications in the United States require a veterinary prescription or a Veterinary Feed Directive. Others carry meat and milk withdrawal periods set by the product and the animal.
Getting either wrong puts food into the chain that should not be there.
Dosing comes from the label and your vetSpecies are not interchangeable
Sheep and goats look similar and are not. Copper is a required mineral for goats and toxic to sheep at the same level in a mineral mix.
Any guide that treats them as one animal is dangerous. Ours never does, and every mineral figure names the species it applies to.
Check the species on the bag, every timeWho writes these guides
Five people research, write, verify, and edit what you read here. Each covers a defined area, so the sourcing stays consistent within it.
Team Member One
Editor
Reviews every guide before it publishes. Keeps the sourcing standard consistent across species.
Facebook profileTeam Member Two
Writer, grazing and forage
Covers stocking rate, carrying capacity, and the pasture guides the species pages link back to.
Facebook profileTeam Member Three
Writer, cattle
Works through extension bulletins on cow-calf management, backgrounding, and finishing.
Facebook profileTeam Member Four
Writer, small ruminants
Covers sheep and goats, including the mineral and parasite differences that separate the two.
Facebook profileTeam Member Five
Research and fact checking
Checks every figure against the publication it cites before an article goes live.
Facebook profileHow a guide gets made
Verification comes before publication, never after. That is the whole reason the order matters.
Start with a real question
We write for questions producers actually ask. If nobody is asking it, a page answering it serves nobody.
Gather the published research
Extension bulletins first, then USDA. Regional differences get collected, not averaged into a figure nobody recommends.
Draft the guide
A writer builds the structure and the prose, working from what the research actually says rather than from memory.
Verify every figure
Each number is opened in its source publication and checked. If a claim cannot be traced, it comes out of the draft.
Mark the veterinary boundary
Anything that needs a vet is flagged as needing a vet. On a site about large animals this check earns its place.
Publish and revisit
Sources named in the sentence. Revisited when a label, a withdrawal period, or a recommendation changes.
What we commit to
These rules apply to every page on the site. They are the reason the writing reads the way it does.
- Every regional claim names its source.Stocking rates, feed budgets, and breeding windows carry the service that published them.
- Ranges, not averages.Where a figure spans a twentyfold difference by region, an average serves nobody.
- No invented keeping experience.No first-person herd stories, no claimed location, no fabricated producer quotes.
- No testing we did not do.Equipment coverage comes from documentation and owner reports, and says which one.
- No diagnosis, no dosing.We describe what conditions look like. Treatment decisions belong to a veterinarian.
- Species get named on every mineral figure.What feeds a goat can kill a sheep. We never write around that.
- Welfare is not treated as optional.Where a practice is legal but hard on animals, the article says so plainly.
- Corrections get made and noted.A fix includes what changed and which source it came from.
How we work
LivestockFarming.org is an independent reference. We are not a farm and we do not sell animals, feed, or equipment.
Every guide is built from published research, then checked line by line against the sources it cites. Nothing goes live until each figure traces back to the service that published it.
Where a figure varies by region, breed, or system, we give the range and name the source. Where the research is thin, we say so.
Sources we rely on
- Oklahoma State Extension
- Texas A&M AgriLife
- Nebraska-Lincoln Extension
- Kansas State Extension
- Penn State Extension
- Iowa State Extension
- Cornell CALS
- Virginia Tech Extension
- USDA NRCS soil and forage
- USDA APHIS animal health
- USDA NASS statistics
- FDA feed and medication
Found a figure that looks wrong?
Stocking rates and forage figures shift by region more than almost anything in farming. If ours does not match what your extension service publishes, tell us which one you are reading.
editor@livestockfarming.orgCorrections usually go live the same week.Everything else
Advertising, partnerships, a broken page, or a question about how the site is put together.
contact@livestockfarming.orgWe aim to answer within three business days.