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An animal unit rating is an animal’s energy demand relative to that of a 'standard animal'. Energy demand is largely a proxy for dry matter intake, i.e. how much pasture an animal eats.
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Animal units are a way of comparing animals of different classes and species so they can be expressed in a standard format. The most common animal units are an AE (Adult Equivalent) for cattle and DSE (Dry Sheep Equivalent) for sheep.

Animal Units can be used for property valuations, business analysis, enterprise analysis, determining carrying capacity, feed budgeting, etc.

Therefore, they need to be calculated accurately and consistently updated as the growth of the animal changes across its lifetime.

(Cited from Bush Agribusiness - https://bushagri.com.au/animal-units)

Animal units are also primarily used to record your stocking rates and grazing load on pasture. These unit systems differ around the world. You can pick the most appropriate unit system for your property based on your current location or pick a different unit system.

The animal unit can be selected through farm settings on the Web App.

The following window will open with all the available settings. Select Animal units. You can now choose the desired unit for livestock on this farm.

We have three different ways to calculate stocking loads and units:

To change your default calculation method, go to Account > Farm Management > Settings and select Animal Units. Then scroll to this dropdown:

This default uses the MLA standard values to calculate an average stocking rate for each age class.

You can edit these values and add your own by clicking into the text box and enter a new value.

Note: you can apply a 0 rating to animals that may be off farm on agistment or for lambs/calves at foot with their dams.

This method uses the animals last recorded weight or todays estimated weight (if available). This is calculated using your selected animal unit definition.

Choosing to calculate animal units by animal body weight automatically updates the animal unit value as the mob weights change. This ensures accurate data for grazing management, stock reconciliation and knowing total stocking rate on farm.

Feed consumption is calculated using a body weight percentage. We assume that each kg of feed provides 7.6MJ of energy.

You can use the animal load record to override the farm level setting you have applied for a mob(s) with an alternative setting OR specific values.

To reset mobs back to the farm level setting, you can do this via settings by clicking "Apply to current mobs" on this blue banner.

or select Use Farm Settings when completing the Animal Load record.

Learn more on how to add Animal Unit Records below.

From the Map, select the mob marker and set the toggle to Mobs. Select the mob you'd like to create the record on.

Click on the the animal unit (DSE) box and it will open up the animal unit record to be updated.

You can update the DSE value for one mob or add in multiple mobs to do this in bulk.

Select the Livestock tab, then Add Records. Choose the Animal unit record. It will display as the chosen unit (e.g AE or DSE).

Enter the desired fields into the form and press Save.

Although we have the automatic updates in the product we recommend manual updates for pregnant cows/ewes to ensure DSE reflects the stocking rate accurately for that time of year on farm.

Simply select your cows/ewes and apply a manual DSE record for them at the appropriate time. See here. You can switch them back to "Automatic DSE" mode when they finish lactating.

We would recommend that you use the DSE x Fertility table provided by EverGraze (sheep version and cattle version).

AgriWebb's Mob Management subscriptions allows the selection between the following Animal Unit Systems for various countries:
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*7.6 MJ ME/day = 1kg

​Sources for definitions