I am a farmer or I own livestock: where does zakat apply?

Crops have one door, livestock another, and neither is the door for money. This page maps the terms you will hear, and what changes the answer on your land or in your herd. It also maps where the question belongs. It is not a calculation for your harvest.

Why this matters in my religion

A farmer knows the seed does not grow by his effort alone. He plants and waters, then waits on rain he does not control, and warmth he does not set.

Qur'an 6:141 names the right on the produce, and ties it to the day the harvest is gathered.

﴿۞ وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنشَأَ جَنَّـٰتٍ مَّعْرُوشَـٰتٍ وَغَيْرَ مَعْرُوشَـٰتٍ وَٱلنَّخْلَ وَٱلزَّرْعَ مُخْتَلِفًا أُكُلُهُۥ وَٱلزَّيْتُونَ وَٱلرُّمَّانَ مُتَشَـٰبِهًا وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَـٰبِهٍ ۚ كُلُوا۟ مِن ثَمَرِهِۦٓ إِذَآ أَثْمَرَ وَءَاتُوا۟ حَقَّهُۥ يَوْمَ حَصَادِهِۦ ۖ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ﴾
“He it is Who produceth gardens trellised and untrellised, and the date-palm, and crops of divers flavour, and the olive and the pomegranate, like and unlike. Eat ye of the fruit thereof when it fruiteth, and pay the due thereof upon the harvest day, and be not prodigal. Lo! Allah loveth not the prodigals.” — Qur'an 6:141

In plain terms: eat of its fruit when it bears fruit, and give its due on the day of harvest.

That timing is why jurists separate this door from the door of money. Cash carries no zakat until a full *hawl*, lunar year, has passed. A crop's moment is the harvest itself.

Livestock is a third door. It carries a hawl, and questions that appear nowhere else: does it graze freely or is it fed by hand? Is it kept for young and milk, or bought to be sold? Does it share pasture with someone else's herd?

None of this is the salaried worker's question. Do not borrow his answer, and do not measure your wealth by his rule.

The idea, simply

First, crops and fruit

The threshold (*nisab*): the widely reported view sets it at five *awsuq* — a *wasq* is sixty *sa'*, a classical volume measure. Converting a sa' into today's measures is a question for a mufti in your country.
The rate: the widely reported view: land watered without cost owes a tenth, *ushr*; land irrigated at a cost owes half a tenth.
The timing: the day of harvest, not a completed year. It can fall due twice in one year if your land carries two crops.
Which crops are included? The majority are known to require a crop that can be measured by volume and stored, such as grain, dates and raisins. The Hanafis are known for extending this more widely, to whatever the land produces. This is a recognized difference; this page does not prefer a view.

The distinction between rain-fed and paid-for irrigation comes from a report in Sahih al-Bukhari, in the Book of Zakat:

“On a land irrigated by rain water or by natural water channels or if the land is wet due to a near by water channel Ushr (i.e. one-tenth) is compulsory (as Zakat); and on the land irrigated by the well, half of an Ushr (i.e. one-twentieth) is compulsory (as Zakat on the yield of the land)” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1483)

Second, livestock

*Sa'imah*, grazing livestock: animals that graze on open pasture most of the year. Its counterpart is *ma'lufah*, stall-fed livestock, paid for by its owner — jurists treat the two differently.
Thresholds: the widely reported first threshold is five camels, thirty cattle, or forty sheep or goats. Jurists call the gap between two thresholds *al-waqs*; nothing is due within it.
*Khultah*, mixing: your herd shares pasture, shelter and a stud animal with someone else's. Jurists give this a role in the count, and the detail is worth asking about.
Working animals: kept for ploughing, irrigation or carrying loads. Jurists view these differently from grazing livestock.
Livestock for trade: bought to be sold at a profit. This falls under trade goods, not grazing-livestock rules.

What changes the answer in your case

Factor	The question it opens
The crop itself	Is it measured and stored, like grain, or fresh produce like vegetables and fruit?
How it was watered	By rain and springs at no cost, or by pump, fuel and paid labor?
A season with both	Did you water half the year one way and half the other?
The size of the harvest	Does it reach five awsuq after cleaning, or fall short?
More than one crop	Do this year's crops combine, or count separately?
Ownership of the land	Is it yours, rented, or shared among heirs who have not divided it?
Season's debt	Did you borrow for seed or fertiliser, and how does that affect the count?
The animal's description	Is it grazing, stall-fed, or a working animal?
Mixing	Is your herd alone, or mixed with a partner's in the pasture?
Its purpose	Kept for young and milk, or bought to be sold?

What this does not mean

A crop's zakat does not wait for a hawl. Its moment is the harvest; waiting a year is the wrong door, not a wrong sum.
The land itself is not what is valued here. This page is about what comes out of it; the land is its own question.
Not all livestock is grazing livestock. An animal fed mostly by its owner is judged differently from one that grazes freely.
Livestock bought for sale is not treated as grazing livestock. That case falls under trade, not under herds.
This is not a calculation for your harvest or herd. It names the doors that open once you ask.

From life

A farmer stands at his threshing floor after the harvest, and does not start by dividing the grain. He starts by weighing and writing it down.

He notes the wheat after cleaning, the barley beside it, and the dates just picked from the palms.

Below that he writes a line: half the land is watered by rain. The other half comes from a pump whose fuel he pays for every week.

On another page he counts his sheep: how many head, and since when he has owned them. He notes whether they graze on common land or he buys their feed, and whether they mix with his neighbor's flock.

He carries both pages to someone qualified to answer. He divides nothing before he knows, and he asks nothing in general terms. That alone was what was required of him.

What does this require of me?

Record the harvest after cleaning, not before. By the measure you use, with each crop counted apart.
Write down how you watered. By rain, by cost, or a mix of the two in one season.
Fix the day of harvest. It is your question's moment for crops, the way a completed hawl is for livestock.
Count your livestock by number and description. How many, since when, grazing or stall-fed, mixed or alone.
Record the season's debt. What you borrowed for seed, fertilizer and labor, and what is owed to you.
Ask about five things by name. Does my harvest reach nisab? At what rate? Do crops combine? What is my livestock's description? What does mixing and debt change?
Do not pay out on a guess and ask later. Estimating a measure has its own conditions among jurists.
Ask for the full answer. Ask a question or browse topics here for summaries linked to their source.

When do I need to ask a scholar?

Your crop is a vegetable or a fruit, where the recognized difference about inclusion applies.
Your land was watered both ways in the same season.
The land is rented, farmed in partnership, or shared among heirs who have not divided it.
You have two crops in one year and are unsure whether they combine.
Your livestock is stall-fed part of the year and grazes the rest.
Your herd mixes with a partner's or a neighbor's.
You bought livestock to sell rather than to raise, or your intention changed mid-year.
You carry heavy season debt, or your crop was damaged or lost.

This library organizes, summarizes and links; it does not rule. Your threshing floor and your herd, in their detail, are a matter for a mufti who knows your case and your land.