StockSmart is a new decision support tool that is used for grazing management. StockSmart can be used to calculate stocking rates for cattle, horses, and sheep on any landscape.
StockSmart quantifies the available forage in an area of interest by leveraging remotely sensed data products and assumptions of shrubs in the diet (depending on the animal type), distribution and distance from water and terrain constraints to livestock movement. The primary data is used from the Rangeland Production Monitoring Service (RPMS) and the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP). From the RPMS data modelers compute the historical mean and standard deviation total annual production from 1984 to 2022 as a 30m raster. StockSmart then uses the most recent Vegetation Cover data from the RAP to categorize the total production into shrubs, herbs (annuals and perennials), and trees. To determine what forage is actually available to the animals, StockSmart applies a terrain correction and canopy cover calculations. StockSmart applies basic linear models to estimate forage beneath the trees and the terrain correction accounts for the slope of the terrain and distance to water. The summation of available forage can then be calculated and applied with harvest and shrub utilizations to come up with a final number.
https://www.stock-smart.com/explore
Click the green “Draw” button and find your pastures! You can also import or draw water locations, and places that livestock can’t or won’t use. You can set slope steepness, distance to water, and landscape utilization. Once this is complete, you can calculate your stocking rates.
Check out the example below for more information on how the support tool works.
For more information, be sure to check out the support page on their website.
