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Old 02-16-2016, 09:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mmartin798 View Post
The economics rules do not change the amount of land needed based on tech level. Only the number of workers needed to tend them. Plus you have to remember the purpose of the exercise was to build according to the rules, and some of them are broken.

To give an idea, the number of cattle Sommerset has can be calculated. The beef operation generates 50,000 kg of beef for the population. That is only 10% of the total herd. So multiply by 10 and you get 500,000 kg if you slaughtered the entire herd. An average 454 kg steer will yield about 340 kg of meat. Dividing 500,000 by 340 gives around 1465 head of cattle. The USDA recommendations for land per animal is about 0.8 Ha per head. So in the real world you should be able to get away with 1200 Ha. The rules say 2-10 Ha per head, so 3000 Ha on the low end and 15000 Ha on the high end. The rules are a little broken if we try to bend real world absolutes into it. This section of the rules could use an edit to make it better. But for now, it is what we have.
Thinking on this........ Maybe the authors data accounts for rather dry low country like Texas or Australia. If so that raises the land necessary for graze substantially higher.... In a temperate environment or a wetter one like coastal low lands were the foliage is thick and returns faster alot less territory is necessary.

So the hectares section really should have a geographical or environmental modifier associated with it.

Given the wide variable of 2-10 hectares, it is probably meant too.
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