How many sheep per acre?

Short answer

Five ewes eat what one cow does — roughly 3–6 per acre of good pasture for a grazing season, a fraction of one on dry range

A mature ewe is 0.20 of an animal unit, so five ewes eat what one 1,000-lb cow with calf does (NRCS). At 3% of body weight a 150-lb ewe eats 4.5 lb of dry matter a day. On average eastern pasture — 3 tons an acre — that is about 2.7 ewes per acre for a 200-day season grazed continuously, 4.7 rotationally, and about 6 on 4-ton pasture. Sheep are grazers, not browsers, so unlike goats the grass number is most of the story.

The arithmetic

Forage per day = body weight × 3%. A 150-lb ewe: 4.5 lb; a 125-lb ewe 3.75; a 250-lb ram 7.5 (Maine).
Season = 4.5 lb × 200 grazing days = 900 lb per ewe.
Usable per acre = yield × efficiency: 3 tons × 70% = 4,200 lb rotational, × 40% = 2,400 continuous (Shelton).
Ewes per acre = 4,200 ÷ 900 = 4.7 rotational; 2,400 ÷ 900 = 2.7 continuous. The other 165 days are hay — about 850 lb a ewe.

Why does NRCS count a ewe as 0.20 of a cow when a goat of the same weight is 0.15?

Same table, different animals — and the number reflects what each one really eats.

NRCS (via Oregon State, Arizona): Mature sheep 0.20 AU, 5.2 lb forage a day; lamb (1 year) 0.15; goat 0.15
University of Wyoming B-1320: A sheep's share of an animal-unit month is 150 lb of forage — 20% of 750
University of Maine: Sheep at 3% of body weight: 125-lb ewe 3.75 lb a day, 250-lb ram 7.5
University of Arkansas: A 150-lb ewe eats 3–4.5 lb of dry matter a day; ruminants 2.5–3% of body weight

The animal-unit table was built on range sheep that ran larger than the average goat, and sheep eat grass the cow would have eaten, where goats take a share of browse. The 0.20 is the table's way of saying a ewe competes with the cow for the same forage. For your own flock, body weight × 3% is the more accurate number; the AU table is how you compare a ewe to a cow on the same ground.

Use your ewes' real weight at 3% for the acreage, and the 5-ewes-per-cow rule when you're deciding whether to run sheep or cattle on the same field.

What changes your number

Breed and frame. A 100-lb hair ewe and a 200-lb wool ewe are not the same stocking rate. Maine's table runs from 3.75 lb a day for a 125-lb ewe to 7.5 for a 250-lb ram.
Lambs at foot. A ewe nursing twins eats far more than a dry ewe. Stock for the spring flush, not the fall.
Rotation. About 70% efficiency rotational versus 30–50% continuous (Shelton). Sheep graze close; leaving residual is what keeps the pasture coming back.
Parasites. Close-grazing sheep on a small, continuously stocked pasture is how worm loads build. Rest periods do double duty.
Co-grazing. Sheep and cattle graze differently enough that many farms run both; count the ewes at 0.20 AU each against the field's total.

A number we won't give you

A per-acre number for sheep that ignores your grass. Every "X sheep per acre" figure on the internet is someone's yield and someone's rotation. The table below shows four; the calculator takes yours.

Sheep per acre — 150-lb ewes, 200 grazing days

Pasture	Acres per ewe	Ewes per acre	Hay for the other 165 days
Dry rangeland, 1,500 lb/acre, take half–leave half	1.20 acres	0.8	854 lb
Average eastern pasture, 3 tons, continuous (40%)	0.38 acres	2.7	854 lb
Average eastern pasture, 3 tons, rotational (70%)	0.21 acres	4.7	854 lb
Good pasture, 4 tons, rotational (70%)	0.16 acres	6.2	854 lb

Intake 3% of body weight. Yields and efficiencies from Wyoming (rangeland example) and Shelton. Hay includes 15% feeder waste.

Run your own numbers

Ten 150-lb ewes on a 200-day season — put in your flock, your grass and how you graze.

Your animals and your grass

SpeciesHeadAvg weight (lb)

Grazing days a yearThe rest of the year is hay.Pasture yield (tons dry matter / acre / yr)3 is Shelton’s average for good eastern pasture; dry range can be a few hundred pounds. NRCS Web Soil Survey has yours.How you graze

Intake is 3% of body weight in dry matter a day — the “safe average” in Shelton and Maine’s worksheets.

Pasture you need

2.1 acres

Acres per head: 0.21
Sheep per acre: 4.7
Forage per head per day: 4.5 lb
Hay for the rest of the year: 8,539 lb

Graze sheep on fewer acres than this and the difference comes out of the hay pile — or out of next year’s grass.

Pasture versus the hay pile

A 150-lb ewe off pasture for 165 days needs about 850 lb of hay with feeder waste. A flock that lambs in late winter eats its most expensive feed on the last of the hay pile — moving lambing toward spring grass is a pasture decision as much as a calendar one.

Then stop planning from averages

The calculator is the plan. In Homestead Paradise you record which paddock the animals are on and the app counts rest days for every paddock, the hay you buy for the off-season lands on the herd's feed cost per head, and the herd's weights and records sit beside it. 14-day free trial, no card.

Start your 14-day trial — no card

Keep planning

How many acres do you need per cow?How many goats per acre?How many laying hens do I need?How much coop space does a chicken need?How many meat chickens should I raise?How much hay do goats need for winter?

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from a land-grant university extension service, a government agriculture or energy agency, or a breed registry — never from another blog.