200 acres and a thought

[Hunter]

$65 per acre for 200 is $13000 if he pays when he is supposed to.
If you find a job that pays $10 an hour at 40 hours a week is another $20,800.
So, can you make $33,800 by just running cattle on 200 acres? Of course their the something in working for yourself and having your own cattle that is worth something.

 

[farmerjan]

$65 per acre for 200 is $13000 if he pays when he is supposed to.
If you find a job that pays $10 an hour at 40 hours a week is another $20,800.
So, can you make $33,800 by just running cattle on 200 acres? Of course their the something in working for yourself and having your own cattle that is worth something.

And if he has 50 cows that wean a calf and it brings 500 ea that's 25,000 so he would fall short of the minimum you are suggesting. Plus the expense to buy them but hopefully they would have a salvage value, so it would be a wash but that would not recoup the initial investment the first year but should be able to by the third year plus still maybe able to keep back say 5 heifers a year for replacements to increase the herd , although it would decrease the initial income to 22,500. So, that is why I was suggesting some feeders and fewer cows to start to give a quicker return on investment and was trying to figure the barest minimum so that anything more would be a plus, and allow for a learning curve.

 

[farmerjan]

@RM90; I was basically trying to present a hypothetical on the rate of gain and return on investment. We usually do better than that but we don't raise very many like that....I was trying to be very conservative on the amount the feeders make, to try to not have someone expect a big profit right off the bat. Because we do so few I am not an expert on that but have a retired veterinarian friend that buys about 60 or more in the spring and puts them out to pasture on family land and them sells in the fall. Yeah he got really burnt last year but before that said he made record profits... and I was trying to remember what he was telling us about rate of gain etc. My big thing was to maybe offer an alternative to just a cow/calf operation, and that he could realize some income in the interim...
But the big thing...does he really WANT to have his own cows.

Not critiquing your operation at all Jan. Is a calf making a dollar a day unrealistic if theyre gaining at least 1.5 lbs? If you don't put anything in to them you won't get anything out. One of the best lessons I learned was on a set of customer cattle to turn out in April, they didn't show up til June and the grass was already rank and layed over. They weighed 492 when they came in and by fall were pushing 650. The customer didn't send any hay or feed being there was still a lot of rank grass out there. They weighed 515 when they shipped out in January. A little supplemental protein would have turned those negative numbers into positives.

I totally agree that in that case supplementing would have been the way to go. Why didn't they have you ship them when they were in such good condition and had gained so well??? That rank grass won't do them any good if they aren't eating it or utilizing it. What a shame. We do supplement our heifers and due to the lack of good fences at many places that is why we just don't do it. I didn't take it as any negative comment on your part. I agree that 1.5 lbs a day would be a good gain and that 1.00 / day is not at all unreasonable.

 

[RanchMan90]

$65 per acre for 200 is $13000 if he pays when he is supposed to.
If you find a job that pays $10 an hour at 40 hours a week is another $20,800.
So, can you make $33,800 by just running cattle on 200 acres? Of course their the something in working for yourself and having your own cattle that is worth something.

And if he has 50 cows that wean a calf and it brings 500 ea that's 25,000 so he would fall short of the minimum you are suggesting. Plus the expense to buy them but hopefully they would have a salvage value, so it would be a wash but that would not recoup the initial investment the first year but should be able to by the third year plus still maybe able to keep back say 5 heifers a year for replacements to increase the herd , although it would decrease the initial income to 22,500. So, that is why I was suggesting some feeders and fewer cows to start to give a quicker return on investment and was trying to figure the barest minimum so that anything more would be a plus, and allow for a learning curve.

$500 per calf isn't straight profit though, that's hardly enough to feed them and make their payment not including land costs. $13000 free and clear for rent sounds like a winner
:2cents:

 

[Hunter]

OP said the land is paid for but does the renter pay for fertilizer and who currently pays to upkeep the fences?
How about hay? If you max out the usage does that allow for any hay to be baled?

What is the monthly loan payment if he borrows $75,000 (50 cows @ $1,500)?

I am throwing out things I am thinking about b/c I am still learning all these things as well. I would love to go into cattle full time but no way to justify it at this point in time.

 

[RanchMan90]

OP said the land is paid for but does the renter pay for fertilizer and who currently pays to upkeep the fences?
How about hay? If you max out the usage does that allow for any hay to be baled?

What is the monthly loan payment if he borrows $75,000 (50 cows @ $1,500)?

I am throwing out things I am thinking about b/c I am still learning all these things as well. I would love to go into cattle full time but no way to justify it at this point in time.

The renter should provide all upkeep to the land. Most banks do a 4 year 4% interest loan on cattle, the payment on $75000 would be $21,750 annually or $1812.50 monthly.

 

[RiverHills]

I'm in a very similar situation to the original post. I own and live on 200 acres I own free and clear in southwestern Missouri. The land has been leased for a couple of years at $65/acre/year, but I am not satisfied with various aspects of leasing. Although the man leasing my place has good intentions, he falls short of his commitments every year. My land is good and produces a lot of grass, plenty of access to water, and is cross fenced. I figure I can stock the place with 50 cows and still keep 30 acres back exclusively for hay production. I have a tractor and bushhog, barn, etc. My plan is to purchase second period cows in about 6 months so they'd calve in the spring of 2018 or possibly purchase third period cows asap. I'd like to borrow the money from FCS to purchase the cattle and use a portion of the property as collateral. If they won't loan the money, I could draw out half of a retirement fund to pay cash for them. Additionally, I've got enough cash on hand to carry me a couple of years until I can sell some of the offspring. I've been out of work for 18 months so I've come to a crossroads - either get my own cows while the prices are down and run a cow/calf operation or sell the place and move on to where there are more opportunities. Thoughts? Ideas? :bang:

If you are getting $65/acre for all 200 acres I'd keep leasing and not own a cow. That's a heck of a rate for pasture in my part of MO.

J&D I'm thanking the same thing. That's the highest I've heard around and it's just to steep to row crop or it would be in crops.


RuralMissouri the 65/acre could be why he falls short. Pays a high price to get it talks the talk but never comes through. We have a few around here like that and the places look like it to. It's really up to you on what's more important money or the care your property is given.