Discussions

What should a person charge for rental of their pasture to the cattle farmer. So much per season? So much per head ? What’s the experience from other land owners re rental prices?

We send cattle to a provincial pasture, used to be PFRA, but not now.  
We are charged a daily rate for the cow, and not exactly sure of the rate for the calf. Not sure if they have posted the rates for next year or not, but they are what some people use.

Your best bet might be to talk to someone at the go office. Availability of water etc and determining who is responsible for fence repair will need to be taken into account.

I have done $1.10/pair/day in the past I found it to be a bit of a pain. The farmer I had didn't bring as many cows as we agreed so I did not make the expected pay back. I usually fix the fence in the spring before they move in any issues during the summer is on them.  
 
Now I just do a flat rate which is similar to what I expected to get with the pairs/day.  
 
I have no idea why agriculture rent is such a big secret.

I’m told that all information (and some bs and speculation) is freely available at the coffee shop. I never go there.  
I just thought the ag office was a good place to ask as there can be a lot of variables such as carrying capacity of pasture, agreed length of grazing season, can it be grazed rotationally, is there water provided or does renter have to pump it, sometimes landlord checks cows and finding a good renter because some guys will overgraze a pasture and hurt it long term.  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-10-26 09:08:27

Thankyou for information supplied but what about the actual dollar value. What seems to be going rate for fenced with water ?

Around here it varies but anywhere from $100 to $130 a pair for the season. Renter responsible for fence

I always get good info from my buddy at the go office as well. Maybe we talk to the same guy..

I’m paying $25.42 a pair including property taxes per year, grazing season June 1st to October 1st ,and we do all fence maintenance and provide infrastructure to pump water, twice over rotational grazing system and under a conservation agreement.

In the past I've rented pasture land per head of cattle, and also utilizied a flatline rent rate. Most landowners I know prefer a flatline rental rate, while renters prefer 'per head'. My preference is a combination of the two with a rental amount that covers all expenses, and extra rent if the land is utilized more than expected.  
 
Land within 20 or so mintues of Brandon rents for slightly more than rural land. In my experience you should be looking at between $55 to $65 per acre for decent pasture land with water and a fence. That roughly works out to be $1.40 to $1.55 per adult cow/bull (pair) per day (assuming an average grazing season of 150 days). It is up to the renter to look after the fence, and spraying for invasive weeds. In the event your land can be broke and used for production, then the value will increase significantly.

Wow that is a huge stocking density per acre and it must be tame pasture. For any pasture in my area that would be way over grazed and for too long a season tame or native. Grass needs to carry half of it’s forage weight into the winter to regenerate in a healthy state the next spring. We would never spray weeds on pasture, proper grazing management should control invasive weeds. Maybe I drunk too much conservation cool aid LOL. Those numbers are what grain land would rent for here and even then it would barely pencil out with a good crop on it.  
My rented native pasture costs $5.31 per acre on a long term lease, and due to its ecological value it would be a disaster to break it and would destroy a lot of wildlife habitat. I’d actually like to buy that land and preserve it further. I guess it’s not always about money.  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-10-26 22:58:52

The $1.10 a day mentioned earlier would be a very close average i would think. The $25 a pair and the $65 plus spraying an acre would be the two very extreme opposite ends of the scale, i guess would depend on the pasture. No way you would get away with either of those figures around here. All depends on the pasture.

I am charging $1.25 per pair per day. This includes grass, water, salt and management. I do the fencing and I move the herd to fresh grass everyday. So I see every animal at least once a day.