Schemes
Although different schemes have similar aims, they vary in complexity and detail. For example, some schemes give no value to a young calf, but an additional value to a cow together with her calf at foot. Some give values to different-sized animals of the same species, or different values to the same species in different regions. Most schemes use a calculation based on the weight of the animal. Some use figures for animals of different sizes which are directly proportional to their weight – for example the 2006 UK Government scheme uses a figure for ruminants of the animal's weight (in kilogrammes) divided by 650. Others include an adjustment for the proportionally higher metabolic rate of smaller animals, according to Kleiber's law, which states that the metabolic rate of most animals varies according to their weight raised to the power of approximately 0.75. For example, the Food and Agriculture Organization's Tropical Livestock Unit is based on the weight of the animal raised to the power of 0.75, compared with the equivalent figure for a "tropical cow" of 250 kg (550 lb).
The following is a summary of some schemes in common use, using the most closely comparable categories:
| Unit | Livestock Unit: UK government 2006 | Livestock Unit: The John Nix Farm Management Pocketbook | Animal unit | FAO Livestock Unit (North America) | FAO Livestock Unit (Sub-Saharan Africa) | Tropical Livestock Unit (Unité Bovin Tropical) | Unité de Gros Bétail, Livestock Unit | Dry Sheep Equivalent | Ewe Equivalent, Stock Unit or Livestock Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbreviation | LU, LSU | LU, LSU | AU | TLU, UBT | UGB, LU | DSE | EE, LSU | ||
| Region | UK | UK | US | North America | Sub-Saharan Africa | Tropics | Europe | Australia | New Zealand |
| Unit equivalent to | Dairy cow | Dairy cow | Beef cow | Tropical cow | Dairy cow producing 3,000 l (790 US gal) milk | 2-year-old dry Merino sheep | Ewe with one lamb | ||
| Weight equivalent of one unit | 650 kg (1,400 lb) | 455 kg (1,000 lb) | 250 kg (550 lb) | 600 kg (1,300 lb) | 45 kg (99 lb) | 55 kg (120 lb) | |||
| Dairy cow | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.70 | 1.00 | 20.0 | 8.0 | |
| Dry medium beef cow | 0.70 | 0.75 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.80 | 8.0 | 6.3 | |
| Medium beef cow suckling | 0.90 | 0.80 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 18.0 | ||||
| Calf under 6 months | 0.00 | 0.34 | 0.10 | 0.0 | 2.5 | ||||
| Cow and unweaned calf | 0.90 | 1.14 | 0.90 | 18.0 | 8.8 | ||||
| Heifer or steer under 1 year | 0.60 | 0.34 | 0.30 | 10.0 | |||||
| Heifer or steer under 2 years | 0.60 | 0.65 | 0.80 | 0.40 | 12.0 | 4.5 | |||
| Heifer or steer over 2 years | 0.70 | 0.80 | 0.60 | 9.0 | 6.0 | ||||
| Bull | 0.90 | 0.65 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.60 | 10.0 | 6.0 | ||
| Horse | 1.00 | 0.80 | 1.20 | 0.80 | 0.80 | 0.70 | 10.0 | ||
| Medium sheep | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.20 | 0.15 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.17 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Goat | 0.10 | 0.16 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.17 | 1.0 | 2.0 | |
| Bison | 1.10 | 0.80 | |||||||
| Water buffalo | 0.70 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.80 | |||||
| Llama | 0.25 | 0.45 | 0.17 | ||||||
| Camel | 0.75 | 1.10 | 1.10 | 1.00 | |||||
| Pig | 0.20 | 0.25 | 0.20 | 0.26 |
Read more about this topic: Livestock Grazing Comparison
Famous quotes containing the word schemes:
“Science is a dynamic undertaking directed to lowering the degree of the empiricism involved in solving problems; or, if you prefer, science is a process of fabricating a web of interconnected concepts and conceptual schemes arising from experiments and observations and fruitful of further experiments and observations.”
—James Conant (1893–1978)