Stocking Rate Decisions Are Not Related to What You Paid for Your Land or Pickup

Abstract

On the Ground • We develop a simple bio-economic model to reflect the stocking rate decision for a profit-seeking land manager and use it to identify factors influencing the optimal stocking rate. • The optimal stocking rate will be bounded by the rate that maximizes average animal performance and that maximizing total animal production per unit of rangeland. • The optimal stocking rate tends closer toward the upper bound as the ratio of the value of the animal product increases relative to the variable costs of production. • Fixed costs or overhead do not influence the optimal stocking rate, but will affect the amount of profit.