Understanding pasture for new landholders

Knowing your pastures is key to maintaining the health and well-being of your livestock

Pastures provide:

• Energy: From digestible carbohydrates and fibre.
• Protein: Essential for growth, reproduction and lactation.
• Minerals: Including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and trace elements.
• Dry matter: Enough bulk to meet intake needs.
• Legumes like clover and lucerne typically offer higher protein than grasses.

What is pasture quality?

Pasture quality directly affects livestock health, fertility and productivity. Even when paddocks appear green and full, nutritional value may be lacking — especially during winter or drought.  

Quality depends on:

• species composition
• growth stage
• soil fertility
• seasonal conditions.  

Pasture quality can be assessed by using feed testing.

How to measure pasture quantity

Pasture quantity is measured in kilograms of dry matter per hectare (kg DM/ha). 

Dry matter refers to the amount of material remaining once the water is removed. Dry matter will vary with the stage of growth and with species. 

How to calculate dry matter

1. Find an area of the paddock that representative of the whole paddock.
2. Using a Pasture Square, cut herbage inside of the square to ground level and place in a paper bag.
   • The more samples you take the more accurate the result will be.
3. Weigh each sample individually and record weights.
4. Calculate the average wet weight.
5. Mix samples together then take out a sub-sample.
6. Dry the sub-samples in a microwave.
7. Place sample in the microwave with a separate container with 100ml of water in it.
   • This will reduce the chance of fire.
8. Cook on high for 5 minutes, take the sample out and weigh it.
9. Put the sample back into the microwave and cook for a further 3 minutes, then weigh again.
10. Continue until the final weight equals the previous weight.
    • Do not burn the sample!

The final weight is the dry sub-sample weight (all moisture removed). 

Use the formula below to calculate kg/DM/ha:

1. DM in grams (g) x 4 = g/square meter (m)
2. g/square m x 10000 = g/ha
3. g/ha / 1000 = kg/ha

For example

If the dried sample weighs 71g:

1. 71 x 4 = 284
2. 284 x 10000 = 284,0000
3. 284,0000 / 1000 = 2,840kg/ha

Using a quadrant or pasture square

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Video transcript

Local Land Services pasture square

I’m Wendy Gill with the Central West Local Land Services, Mixed Farming Officer based in Forbes.

The features of the Local Land Services pasture square include assessing the ground cover and pasture condition. You can use it to calculate available pasture and develop a feed budget for your paddock and livestock enterprises.

You can also use it to calculate plant establishment in sown crops. This will help you make critical decisions for monitoring and maximizing your production enterprises in either drought, drought recovery, or general production of your enterprises.

Additional features also include the Meat and Livestock Australia pasture rule for measuring kilograms of green dry matter. It has a one-meter ruler and a 30-centimeter ruler, which is really handy for those little odd jobs on the farm.

Written conversion tables and formulas step you through how to use the pasture square and provide all the information and calculations you need in one easy, accessible place.

It also has an additional QR code that will direct you to the Local Land Services website for additional resources, fact sheets, and other information that relate to using the pasture square and additional industry information.

It’s lightweight, flexible, and a really compact tool to have with you on the farm that is very usable for your enterprise.

How to calculate hay yield

To calculate the amount of hay you can harvest off the paddock:

1. take the dry matter per hectare value, then add 10% to account for moisture
2. take away 20% for harvest loss.

How to calculate grain yield

1. Find a representative area of the paddock.
2. Measure out a metre of row.
   • Take at least ten samples.
3. Count the number of heads and work out average grains per head.
   • Don’t count heads that are significantly smaller and will not make grain.
4. Within the meter row count the number of grains on ten representative heads.
5. Count on one side of the head, then double that number.

The formula is:

grains per head x heads x 0.027 to 0.029 (grain size per thousand grains) / row spacing (cm).

How to calculate stocking rate

The following calculations will give you the stocking rate per hectare.

• dry matter per hectare (kg/DM/ha) - desired residual = available pasture
• available pasture - wastage (30%) = net supply (kg/DM/ha)
• net supply/(intake per head (3% of body weight) x grazing days required) = stocking rate per hectare

How to improve the nutritional value of pasture

You can improve the nutritional value of pasture by:

• sowing high-quality species
• applying fertilisers to boost nutrient content.

You can supplement livestock’s access to pasture with hay, grain or mineral blocks if the pasture will not meet their nutritional needs.

Browse our topic pages to find out how to get the most out of your pastures for your livestock.