Renting Pasture

[JJT]

Anyone out there rent their pastures out? I have 12 acres of nice pasture currently being "used" by a neighbor with 16 beef cows. The original agreement years ago was a side of beef every year or 2. I've never collected on the beef, (1/2 cow would last me 20 years). Way back when, the farmer used to brush hog the fields once a year, but he hasn't done that since I bought the Kubota. This guy also uses the property of my ajoining neighbors. In fact this hobby farmer has almost no pasture of his own. This guy can afford to pay, he has all the toys, new truck, 4 wheeler, boat, snow machine, etc.

What's a fair rent for 12 acres of decent grass?

 

[Inspector507]

Maybe he can't afford to pay anymore with all those toys /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

You can either rent it by the head, by the year, or by the month. If you rent it by the head around here you would pay $5-10 per head depending on how good the pasture is. If you rent by the year figure the average farm rent per acre for your area and then pasture ground usually goes for around 50-75% of that number. If they want to rent by the month figure up cash rent for farm ground and divide that by 12.

In our area farm ground rents for an average of about $150 an acre. Based on this the price per year would be $1800. If you figure half of this you would be at $900 and 75% would be at $1350. Or if you wanted to go by the month and it's good pasture then I would do $150 a month.

 

[rancar]

In upstate New York, I rent out 60 acres of my cropland to a tenant farmer for $30/acre on an annualized basis. Land planted in alfalfa, corn, timothy. Others in my area get a little bit less.

Regards,
Bob Ancar
Cambridge, NY

 

[stmiller2]

The USDA reports average land rental rates in "Agricultural Cash Rents." The average cash rent for pastures in the Northeast was $23/acre in 2001. The average for cropland was $41.5/acre.

 

[cowboydoc]

I think those numbers are grossly wrong. I don't know about the south or east. I do know from the midwest to the west there isn't a place that you can rent ground for much less than a hundred dollars an acre. Certainly the quality of the ground is going to play a HUGE part in it. Do you have that website or where you got those numbers. I wonder if they give a state by state comparison.

 

[cowboydoc]

rancar,
You guys only get $30 an acre for farmground? What are the yields for corn there? I have never heard of such low rates for farmground. Even bad ground around here rents for $100 an acre. The really good ground goes for $200 an acre.

 

[stmiller2]

There is a considerable amount of variation in cash land rents across the country -- the more productive the soil, the higher the rent, all else constant. The USDA reports on land values and rents are available at http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/other/plr-bb/

 

[cowboydoc]

Very interesting report. I had no idea that other parts of the country were that cheap in farm rent. Thanks for the info. Makes it pretty easy to figure out pasture rent with that report.

Another aside is that horse people absolutely get screwed with regards to pasture rent! If you have cattle they will rent you the ground at $5-10 a head but if you have horses they want $30-50 a head, even though the two eat about the same. Same with hay. If you are buying for cattle it's one price and if you're a horse buyer then it's another price. Do any of you other guys find the same thing?

 

[stmiller2]

Keep in mind that the reported cash rents (and land values) are averages. There can be considerable variation within a particular state.

 

[rf33]

Doc,
Around here we see the same thing with regards to the horse market for hay being so much higher than the cattle market for hay. I think that it is in part due to hay quality issues, and the rest of it is simply charging what the market will bear. Many horse owners are willing to pay $4.00 and up for high quality square bales, but a cattle farmer simply cannot pay that and make money doing so. Also keep in mind that most horse owners keep their horses at an expense to them, whereas most cattle owners expect to make money from their livestock. Just my .02...

 

[looch]

Here, hay is about 2.50 per square bale (60 Lbs). Never heard of the seller asking what it was for. It's up to the buyer to decide on the quality of the hay and whether they should feed to it to horses.

 

[cowboydoc]

You guys are right on both accounts but what I'm talking about is when they blatantly charge more for horse hay than for cattle hay when it's exactly the same. I know a number of guys who will sell for $3-4 a bale for horse hay and then what doesn't sell turn around and sell it to the cattle feeders for $2 a bale for the same hay. Then it's the same for pasture rent. Before I had any ground I had called this one guy about renting his pasture. He said cattle or horses. I said horses and it was $30 a head. Had my wife call back a day later and say it was for cattle and it was $5 a head!! Go figure.

With regard to rent varying yes you are right. Where I'm at most of the ground is from $150 - $200 an acre to rent. The usda report shows $117 average rent for Iowa.

 

[unaka]

Here in Western NC it's a little different situation.

Most of the land around here is farm land, i.e. pasture and open ground. However, most of the farmers are gone, replaced with tourists, vacationers, and six-monthers from Florida.

There's only a few guys left around here that raise cattle and cut hay. I have people literally BEGGING me to hay their pastures, graze them, whatever, and for no fee at all. People like having their pastures as they are pretty to look at and help with the property value. For this reason, people around here are willing to let me use their pastures for free, as long as I keep them up. Otherwise they'll end up paying someone to brushhog them once a year. This way, they get to keep their pastures in good shape, and at no cost/effort/trouble to them.

Just thought I'd give y'all a diferent take on how it is around here.

Cowboy Doc, hope you're haying season is going well. We've been lucky this year as we have, so far, guessed right on the rain.

 

[looch]

Yeah it's like that here too. Property owners are always on the lookout for a farmer to come and take the hay, just in case the guy who did it last year doesn't want to do it again.

The haying season up here is off to a bad start. Some were lucky and decided to cut Friday the 7th and were putting up by Sunday. Everyone else who waited are pushing the limits now - it hasn't really stopped raining since about 10th. Even if a couple of dry days are forecast, it'll take at least that for the ground to dry up enough to get the tractor in the field. A lot of people are crossing their fingers for this weekend.

Doc, maybe they think people who own hay burners also have money to burn /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif.

For the record, I'd invite any farmer to graze his animals on my pasture if he were willing to share the labor and expense for new fencing.

 

[cowboydoc]

It's been terrible for haying Unaka. I'm about ready to strangle the weather. Literally when they say no rain it rains, when they say rain it doesn't rain. I've got 100 acres that should have been cut last week but everyday they've been calling for rain and no rain. It's a crapshoot for sure!!!

 

[unaka]

Sorry to hear that, Cowboy Doc. I've been right there, too. Sometimes I ask myself why the heck I keep farming. So much of what we do is at the cruel whim of mother nature. I could go on about why we farm but that is fodder for another discussion.

Last year, I had 20 acres on the ground and was halfway through fluffing when the downpour came. Like you said, there was no rain in the forecast but it continued for three days. Eventually, we baled it but it was worthless hay. At the same time we lost three calves and a good cow due to birthing problems. It was the worst year we'd ever had farming.

I'll cross my fingers for you, Doc, and do my no-rain dance.

Pbenven, regarding your comment about the fence, I'm not sure if this info will help you any but check your state laws. Here in NC if I use your pasture and put up a fence, when I leave the fence must stay, even if it is a temporary-type electric fence.

 

[cowboydoc]

Thanks Unaka. I wonder as well at times what the heck I'm doing ranching. Best of luck to you as well.

 

[looch]

Unaka,

What I meant was, instead of charging cash for the rental of my pasture, I would accept (and prefer) to work out some sort of bartar agreement. Since my fence is practically non-existent and what is still definable as fence is barbed wire, I wouldn't mind a hand putting in a new one (cedar posts and woven wire). Letting someone else's animals "proof" the fence for a year or two doesn't seem like a bad trade to me.

Even if I don't get help, it's still something on my to-do list - especially ripping out that barbed wire before someone (or thing) gets hurt.

 

[8NTX]

I have heard (on another board) that horses are generally harder on a pasture than cows. The cutting action of their hooves is more damaging and they will eat the grass right down to the dirt, whereas a cow will not. And like someone else said, cows are raised to make money on and horses are hayburners. So I guess it makes sense to charge higher pasture rents for horses.