AUMs

AUM is how much grazing a tract can give in one season. A season is seven real days. One AUM feeds one cow, one steer, or one cow-calf pair for that season, when the animal's Grazing Index matches the land.

The tank

A tract that is entirely grass, all 160 acres, holds 60 AUM. Less grass holds less, in a straight line. Eighty acres of grass is 30 AUM. Brush, timber, and water acres are not grass, so they are not AUM.

The tank is what is left of that AUM this season. It refills when the season turns. If the tract is degraded 30 percent, the new season opens at 70 percent of the grass potential. At 100 percent degrade, the new season opens empty.

What each head eats

• A cow, a steer, or a pair eats 1 AUM at the ideal GI. A nursing calf is part of the pair and adds nothing until it is weaned. After weaning, the calf is another AUM.
• A bull eats 1.25 AUM.
• Any animal under 70 health eats 1.5 AUM. An injured animal, or one that still owes a vet bill, also eats 1.5 and does not heal on grass.
• GI miss raises the bill in a straight line. At 200 points off the ideal, use is doubled. Past 200 it stays doubled.

Empty grass

While the tank is above zero, sound cattle gain 20 health per day, up to their cap and never past 100. At zero, with cattle still on the tract, health is cut in half each day and the tract takes 10 percent degrade. With the cattle removed, degrade heals 5 points a day. The tank itself waits for the next season. It does not regrow mid-season.