Livestock Unit Calculator
Convert livestock numbers to total Livestock Units (LU), LU per hectare and LU per acre, using the DEFRA Countryside Stewardship Annex 6C conversion table.
Against the published scheme limits
Moorland grazing actions state their limit as grazing livestock units per hectare. The coefficients are the same ones used above, so your figure can be read straight against them. Each limit applies to the land entered into that action, not to the whole farm.
| Action | Scheme | Limit (GLU/ha) | Payment | Your figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UPL2 Low livestock grazing on moorland | SFI26 | 0.08 | £89/ha/yr | — |
| UPL3 Limited livestock grazing on moorland | SFI26 | 0.04 | £111/ha/yr | — |
| CUP8 Moderate livestock grazing on moorland | CSHT | 0.16 | £20/ha/yr | — |
| CUP9 Low livestock grazing on moorland | CSHT | 0.08 | £53/ha/yr | — |
| CUP10 Limited livestock grazing on moorland | CSHT | 0.04 | £66/ha/yr | — |
Limits and payment rates read from the GOV.UK action pages (SFI26 actions updated 17 June 2026; CSHT actions 12 March 2026). Being inside a limit here is not a compliance check — your agreement, your mapped area and your stocking calendar decide that.
What this number is not
There is no official DEFRA benchmark for “normal” livestock units per hectare on lowland grazing — Annex 6C publishes the conversion table and nothing else. The only LU/ha figures in DEFRA’s guidance are the moorland action limits above. AHDB’s grazing manual gives a lowland guide range, counted in a different livestock unit — further down you can see it and count your stock again in AHDB’s units. Otherwise your number is a comparison point against your own past seasons or a neighbour’s, not a target.
If your land is in an NVZ
The headcount you just entered is also what the NVZ rules ask you to write down every year: a livestock summary, completed by 30 April and kept for five years, with the holding area, the animals, the days they spent on the holding and the nitrogen they produced. Dynamik Agri’s NVZ register is a free Windows program that adds that up from DEFRA’s standard figures and keeps it with your field records, on your own PC.
Livestock unit conversion table (DEFRA Annex 6C)
| Livestock category | Livestock Units each | Animals per 1 LU |
|---|---|---|
| Cattle over 2 years | 1.00 | 1 |
| Cattle 6 months to 2 years | 0.60 | ~1.7 |
| Horse | 1.00 | 1 |
| Pony or donkey | 0.80 | 1.25 |
| Lowland ewe, lamb or ram | 0.12 | ~8.3 |
| Store lamb, hill ewe, hogg or teg | 0.08 | 12.5 |
| Goat | 0.12 | ~8.3 |
So 1 Livestock Unit ≈ 1 adult cow ≈ 1 horse ≈ 8–9 lowland ewes ≈ 12–13 hill ewes. "Animals per 1 LU" is simply 1 divided by the DEFRA coefficient.
Two more categories in the 2026 scheme guidance
| Livestock category | GLU each | Animals per 1 GLU |
|---|---|---|
| Pig | 0.44 | ~2.3 |
| Poultry | 0.017 | ~59 |
These two are absent from Annex 6C and appear in the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier action guidance (CSP16, updated 28 April 2026), which introduces the list with the words that a Natural England adviser “will decide on the appropriate value depending on the type and breed of livestock” and may use these figures. Treat them as the adviser’s starting point, not a fixed rate.
How many cattle or sheep per acre?
The calculator gives livestock units per acre; turning that back into animals is one division, because a unit is defined as one adult bovine. Divide your LU/acre by the coefficient for the animal you are asking about:
- Cattle over 2 years (1.00): 0.5 LU/acre is 0.5 head per acre — one beast per two acres.
- Cattle 6 months to 2 years (0.60): 0.5 ÷ 0.60 = 0.83 head per acre.
- Lowland ewes (0.12): 0.5 ÷ 0.12 = 4.2 ewes per acre.
- Hill ewes, hoggs, tegs, store lambs (0.08): 0.5 ÷ 0.08 = 6.3 per acre.
One hectare is 2.4710538 acres, which is the conversion the calculator uses. Nothing here says how many animals an acre should carry — DEFRA publishes no lowland figure, and the nearest published guide is AHDB’s range below.
How many sheep or cattle per hectare? AHDB’s guide stocking rates
DEFRA sets no lowland figure, but AHDB does give a range, in its grazing manual Planning grazing strategies for better returns (2018, page 14):
| Low stocking rate | High stocking rate | |
|---|---|---|
| AHDB LU per hectare | 1–1.5 | 2–2.5 |
| AHDB LU per acre | 0.4–0.6 | 0.8–1 |
| Lowland ewes per hectare | 9–14 | 18–23 |
| Lowland ewes per acre | 3.7–5.5 | 7.4–9.2 |
| Beef cows per hectare | 1.3–2 | 2.7–3.3 |
| Beef cows per acre | 0.5–0.8 | 1.1–1.3 |
| Other cattle over 2 years per hectare | 1.3–1.9 | 2.5–3.1 |
| Other cattle over 2 years per acre | 0.5–0.8 | 1–1.3 |
| Cattle 12–24 months per hectare | 1.5–2.3 | 3.1–3.8 |
| Cattle 12–24 months per acre | 0.6–0.9 | 1.2–1.6 |
AHDB’s note on the two ends: a high stocking rate uses more of the grass and makes pasture quality easier to hold; a low one makes higher gain per head easier, as long as the pasture is good. It also says the rate moves with land grade, nutrient use, any stewardship agreement and grazing quality.
These are not the livestock units the calculator uses. AHDB counts one LU as the feed energy a mature dairy cow needs for maintenance (from Defra’s 2010 farm business management definitions), so a lowland ewe is 0.11, a beef cow 0.75 and other cattle over two years 0.80. Annex 6C, which the calculator follows, makes every bovine over two years 1.0 and a lowland ewe 0.12. For the same herd of beef cows the Annex 6C figure comes out a third higher than AHDB’s, and for lowland ewes about 9% higher — so to read your stock against this table, count it again in AHDB’s units below. The animal rows are our arithmetic, not AHDB’s print: the per-hectare range divided by AHDB’s figure for that animal (0.11 lowland ewe, 0.75 beef cow, 0.80 other cattle over two years, 0.65 other cattle 12–24 months), then by 2.4710538 for acres. AHDB defines one LU as a mature dairy cow’s maintenance energy, so the first two rows also read as dairy cows per hectare and per acre.
Against AHDB’s range
—
AHDB’s range is a guide from a grazing manual, not a scheme limit, and this comparison is not advice on how many animals your land should carry.
How many animals can your grass feed?
The ranges above come from experience across many farms. The same AHDB manual also works it out from the grass itself: how much grows in a typical month in England under moderate nitrogen use (Table 1), how much of it a grazing system actually gets eaten (Table 2), and how much each animal eats a day as a share of its liveweight (Table 8). Put in one class of stock and the calculator does that arithmetic.
| Month | Growth (kg DM/ha a day) | Animals per hectare |
|---|
What this leaves out
It counts only the grass that grows in the months you picked: not the cover already standing at turnout, not silage, hay or bought feed, and not the lambs or calves at foot, which eat their own share — work them out as their own class and add the two. The growth figures are AHDB’s typical pattern for England; AHDB says growth differs from field to field and year to year, and can beat its maximum at good sites. A fixed number of animals will run short in the lean months unless the spring surplus is shut up for silage or the stock come off. This is arithmetic from a published guide, not advice on how many animals your land should carry.
Frequently asked questions
What is a livestock unit (LU)?
A livestock unit is a standard way of expressing different types and ages of grazing animals on a common scale, so that stocking can be compared across species. In the DEFRA Countryside Stewardship system, one LU corresponds to one adult bovine over two years old, and every other category is a fraction of that (see the table above).
How many sheep count as one livestock unit?
Using the DEFRA Annex 6C coefficients: a lowland ewe, lamb or ram counts as 0.12 LU, so roughly 8–9 of them make one LU. A store lamb, hill ewe, hogg or teg counts as 0.08 LU — exactly 12.5 per LU.
How do I calculate livestock units per hectare?
Convert each group of animals to livestock units using the coefficients above, add them up, then divide the total by your grazing area in hectares. Example: 20 adult cattle (20 LU) plus 100 lowland ewes (100 × 0.12 = 12 LU) on 25 ha gives 32 LU ÷ 25 ha = 1.28 LU/ha. That is exactly what the calculator above does — including the per-acre figure.
What stocking rate is "right" for my land?
This calculator deliberately does not tell you, and neither does DEFRA: Annex 6C publishes the conversion table with no accompanying benchmark, and the only LU/ha figures in DEFRA’s guidance are the moorland action limits (0.04, 0.08 and 0.16 GLU/ha). AHDB’s grazing manual offers a guide — 1–1.5 LU/ha at the low end, 2–2.5 at the high end, in AHDB’s own units (see above) — and says the rate moves with land grade, nutrient use, stewardship agreements and grazing quality. Off moorland, the appropriate rate depends on habitat, soil, rainfall, sward quality and your farm system. Use the number as a comparison point and talk to your agronomist or feed advisor.
Does this check my SFI or Countryside Stewardship limits?
It compares, it does not certify. Moorland grazing actions are written as a maximum GLU per hectare — 0.08 for UPL2 and CUP9, 0.04 for UPL3 and CUP10, 0.16 for CUP8 — so the results above put your figure next to each of them. Other grassland actions are managed by sward height and seasonal rules instead; for those, use our Grassland Grazing Checker. Either way the agreement, the mapped area and the stocking calendar decide compliance, not this page.
Is a GLU the same as a livestock unit?
For these purposes, yes. The 2026 action guidance says grazing livestock units (GLU) and lists the same coefficients as Annex 6C — a cow over two years is 1.0 in both. The 2026 list adds pig (0.44) and poultry (0.017), which Annex 6C does not contain, and notes that a Natural England adviser decides the value that actually applies to your livestock.
Do lambs at foot count separately?
No. DEFRA’s moorland action guidance states that lambs at foot have no separate GLU allocation and are included in the figure shown for “ewe and lamb”. Count the ewe once; do not add her lamb as a second animal.
What about manure nitrogen limits (NVZ)?
The 170 kg N/ha/year livestock manure limit in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones is a separate calculation based on nitrogen produced, not livestock units. If your land is in an NVZ, start with our NVZ checker.
About this calculator
Livestock Unit coefficients are taken verbatim from DEFRA Countryside Stewardship Annex 6C. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Crown copyright 2023.
What this tool does: converts livestock numbers to total Livestock Units (LU) and LU per hectare using Annex 6C, the table the schemes use. A separate, optional count does the same in AHDB’s grazing-manual units, only to read your stock against AHDB’s guide range. A third part estimates how many animals of one class a season’s grass growth can feed, using AHDB’s grass-budget tables.
What this tool does not do: recommend whether your stocking rate is appropriate. Suitable LU per hectare depends on habitat, soil, rainfall, sward quality, farm system, and — where applicable — the specific stocking rules of your Countryside Stewardship or Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement.
For decisions about your farm, consult a feed advisor, agronomist or veterinary surgeon. For Countryside Stewardship compliance, check your agreement documents or contact the Rural Payments Agency.
Pig (0.44) and poultry (0.017) come from the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier action guidance, not from Annex 6C — see CSP16, updated 28 April 2026, where the values are the ones a Natural England adviser may apply. Deer and cattle under 6 months appear in neither list; for those, refer to your agreement schedule.
The stocking-rate guide range is quoted from AHDB, Planning grazing strategies for better returns (2018), page 14, © Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. The ewe conversions are UKPAI’s arithmetic.
Scheme limits and payment rates on this page were read from the GOV.UK action pages for UPL2, UPL3, CUP8, CUP9 and CUP10 on 7 September 2026.
Keep learning
New to data-driven farming? Read our complete guide to precision agriculture in the UK, see what precision farming actually costs, or take the free interactive introduction course — story-driven, narrated, and cited to AHDB and gov.uk.
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