beowulf
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2003
- Messages
- 1,176
- Location
- Central California Foothills
- Tractor
- Kubota L3410 HST, J Deere riding mower
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?
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?