Cattle grazing lease rates

[beowulf]

At the end of 2022 I terminated the lease I had with a guy for cattle grazing on our land - Central California foothills - 90 acres less estimated 10 acres for our own use = about 80 acres for him, and at $800 a year (cheap - I think) and that was based on $10 per acre per year whether he put cows here or not - but we assumed he would want them here as much as possible. We provided the water and there was existing perimeter fencing.

Our reasons for leasing: 1) fire mitigation, and 2) fence maintenance (I can do all that but it is hilly and I am old and getting older). He was a nice guy, but he was supposed to routinely inspect and maintain the fences as needed but he didn't really do that, even with proding, so we had to. Also, he did not have cattle here when we most needed the grazing done for fire mitigation which required that I had to do a whole lot of tractor work. He kept promising to bring cattle in but did not do that until it was not needed. I understand that - it was just that his business model - when he had to graze, sell and buy cattle did not quite match up with what we needed. He also had to provide liability insurance.

Anyway, he is gone, and I will be either bringing my own cattle on here, or try leasing to someone else (my preference if doable). And we will have abundant grazing. I have tried to find out what a fair lease rate would be per acre per year. I have managed to find some information - the latest being from 2020 - that advises those rates were $19.50 per head per month. It doesn't mention acres. I want cattle here year round (if the number of head is matched up to the grazing), and think that there would be sufficient grazing for ten head at least for the year. I have fenced the property so that there are several separate grazing pastures and I can move them around as needed. There are other calculations - based on "animal units, and cow-calfs etc. But I tried to keep it simple. If I find someone I would offer the grazing at a very fair rate.

I have some calls in to local livestock auction yards to see if they can help me determine what I should charge IF I decide to lease rather than bringing on my own cows. I also checked local sites, Craigslist, fb marketplace and more but no hits. I posted a while back about how to kick start running my own cows - if I did that - but cannot find it.

Decent hay here is running $25-$27 a bale. BTW, the guy I leased to said I was actually leasing him about 100 acres because it was hilly in places and so if the 80 acre 'rug' was pulled flat, it would be more like 100 than 80. Interesing.

Any ideas about sources to determine rates? Ideas?

 

[dirttoys]

At the end of 2022 I terminated the lease I had with a guy for cattle grazing on our land - Central California foothills - 90 acres less estimated 10 acres for our own use = about 80 acres for him, and at $800 a year (cheap - I think) and that was based on $10 per acre per year whether he put cows here or not - but we assumed he would want them here as much as possible. We provided the water and there was existing perimeter fencing.

Our reasons for leasing: 1) fire mitigation, and 2) fence maintenance (I can do all that but it is hilly and I am old and getting older). He was a nice guy, but he was supposed to routinely inspect and maintain the fences as needed but he didn't really do that, even with proding, so we had to. Also, he did not have cattle here when we most needed the grazing done for fire mitigation which required that I had to do a whole lot of tractor work. He kept promising to bring cattle in but did not do that until it was not needed. I understand that - it was just that his business model - when he had to graze, sell and buy cattle did not quite match up with what we needed. He also had to provide liability insurance.

Anyway, he is gone, and I will be either bringing my own cattle on here, or try leasing to someone else (my preference if doable). And we will have abundant grazing. I have tried to find out what a fair lease rate would be per acre per year. I have managed to find some information - the latest being from 2020 - that advises those rates were $19.50 per head per month. It doesn't mention acres. I want cattle here year round (if the number of head is matched up to the grazing), and think that there would be sufficient grazing for ten head at least for the year. I have fenced the property so that there are several separate grazing pastures and I can move them around as needed. There are other calculations - based on "animal units, and cow-calfs etc. But I tried to keep it simple. If I find someone I would offer the grazing at a very fair rate.

I have some calls in to local livestock auction yards to see if they can help me determine what I should charge IF I decide to lease rather than bringing on my own cows. I also checked local sites, Craigslist, fb marketplace and more but no hits. I posted a while back about how to kick start running my own cows - if I did that - but cannot find it.

Decent hay here is running $25-$27 a bale. BTW, the guy I leased to said I was actually leasing him about 100 acres because it was hilly in places and so if the 80 acre 'rug' was pulled flat, it would be more like 100 than 80. Interesing.

Any ideas about sources to determine rates? Ideas?

I was getting $30/acre the last time I leased in missouri. Animal unit with a minimum is the way to do it unless you know the person. Many will run it so heavy as to damage pasture, then not be back next year. I would expect your land to be worth many times what mine is, but, it depends on local demand.

Best,

ed

 

[beowulf]

dirttoys, thanks for responding. Agree that there is an overgrazing risk in some situations. Our lease provided that we were to meet and discuss options if it appeared that the land was being overgrazed or undergrazed (as we wanted to mitigate fire risks). I will consider how to more effectively manage that issue in the next lease - if I don't bring on my own cows. Appreciate the information.

 

[LouNY]

A lot will depend on the quality of the pasture. Type of grasses and the amount of moisture and speed of regrowth.

 

[ponytug]

While AMU may be a reasonable way, I would draft into the lease that the grazing is to be completed by the time the grass dries, which is your fire reduction goal.

We worked with several different graziers before decided to do it ourselves. However, that means for us having to feed some hay to enable low grass density by the time it dries (April-ish for us), so the cattle need feeding until the fall. I regard the hay as fire insurance.

With your acreage, you might be able to selectively graze it in rotation to get the density down where you need it, e.g. close to the buildings, and leave more farther out, without needing hay.

I can't give you numbers; I think it depends too much on your local circumstances. Here, young cowboys are always scouting areas for lease, but the flip side is that, for us at least, they weren't the greatest managers. (New to the job, scattered holdings, other jobs, etc.)

All the best,

Peter

 

[beowulf]

Thanks Peter, I have everything fenced for precisely that, i.e., selective grazing near the home and barn etc. first and then moving out farther and farther. And, for the real close in areas, I recently refenced areas for goats - which my wife prefers close in as they don't have the same fly problem that cows can have.

I just got off the phone with a local livestock sale yard-owner and auctioneer. Long discussion. He said he would need to see the property to accurately provide a lease rate suggestion, but for what I described he said 12-15 head and a high end of $1,600 per year. We discussed my reasons for wanting cattle and he made suggestions for that as well, and said if I came down to the next sale to call him first and he would hook me up with some of the local and usual buyers to help me out - plan what I needed and help me bid appropriately.

When we had cows before (before 2015) we seemed to manage things so that we did not have to buy much hay, if any. But that depended on the rain, and herd size - if calves etc.

Thanks for responding.

 

[ponytug]

That sounds like a great plan. Our local brand inspector was incredibly helpful to us, and it sounds like you have found "the guy" to help you out with yours.

Good luck.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ponytug]

FWIW: We have cows and horses and used to have fly issues, so we had fly traps and insect sprays. Still lots of flies. So, we quit using pesticides and the next year it was about the same, but thereafter we had very few flies as other predators moved in and ratcheted the fly population down.

We use mosquito fish in the water troughs, but that's about it.

Goats sound like a plan, if you don't mind the smell. (I would go female only, but that's me.)

All the best,

Peter

 

[beowulf]

Peter, we also use mosquito fish in the troughs. What we have learned, we think, re the fly issue is this:

1) if the water troughs are placed far enough away the fly issue is substantially diminished.
2) if we put out the Rescue fly traps early in the fly season, the fly issue is substantially diminished.
3) we have also used Rabon mineral blocks - they are supposed to break the cycle of the flys in the manure - seems to help, but I really can's assess how much it helps - no way to measure that against the other things we do.

Re the goats. We have two billys and they can stink at times. They have several acres to roam in though and there are buffers between where they are and the house - an orchard, a yard, large graveled common areas and more, so we really only notice it when we go to where they are - twice a day at least - but not for long periods.

 

[dirttoys]

dirttoys, thanks for responding. Agree that there is an overgrazing risk in some situations. Our lease provided that we were to meet and discuss options if it appeared that the land was being overgrazed or undergrazed (as we wanted to mitigate fire risks). I will consider how to more effectively manage that issue in the next lease - if I don't bring on my own cows. Appreciate the information.

Cool, I wish you luck. Saw goats mentioned, they are great! If you have water tight fence, for some reason the darn things were born with a single objective of being where you don't want them........ in the road, in the garden, walking on the cars...........

They do rock star work on brush and shrubs, nobody has cleaner fence rows than a guy with goats, and if something happens to them you are only out $5.

Best,

ed