$200 per cow/calf?

[Rockin' J Longhorns]

Is $200 per cow/calf pair to high? I found a 300 acre pasture with a lot of ponds, good fence and pretty good grass, that's only about 25 miles from my main place. The guy also said I could use a 100 acre pasture across the road for my other bull and some heifers. I think that $200 per pair is high but what do you think? The pasture is the size I was looking for but I don't want to be paying to much.

The guy said if I don't want it that he is going to sell it. The man who has been renting it was paying less per pair but this year the owner wanted more per pair so the guy backed out of it at this price.

I just don't want to say I'll take it and then in April or May find some cheaper. But I don't want to say no and then can't find anything latter.

So I need some HELP :help: .

Thanks, RJL

 

[Jogeephus]

I'll rent you everything I got for that. What's gonna be left for you?

 

[Rockin' J Longhorns]

How many head of cattle do ya have?

I have over 60 head and two herd bulls. If I got this pasture I would put about 35 pair in it.

 

[Rockin' J Longhorns]

What's gonna be left for you?

That's what I keep asking myself. I had a huge hay bill this year and with the pasture rent at $200 per pair it would get costly.

I have some high quality cattle and the babies sell in the $2,000 - $15,000 range. I had to buy the cows and bulls for a lot of money to get that price out of their calves. So I guess it is kind of like buying a cow for $20,000 and selling her calf for $10,000 or buying a cow for $1,200 and selling her calf for $600.

If I have to pay $200 per pair it's better then having to sell the herd.

 

[Jogeephus]

What's gonna be left for you?

That's what I keep asking myself. I had a huge hay bill this year and with the pasture rent at $200 per pair it would get costly.

I have some high quality cattle and the babies sell in the $2,000 - $15,000 range. I had to buy the cows and bulls for a lot of money to get that price out of their calves. So I guess it is kind of like buying a cow for $20,000 and selling her calf for $10,000 or buying a cow for $1,200 and selling her calf for $600.

If I have to pay $200 per pair it's better then having to sell the herd.

See your point. Your in a different ball game than me. With margins like that, you probably could afford to do it. But it still seems steep to me. Do you think the guy is bumping the price cause he knows what type operation you got or is it that expensive to rent land there? Here, we can run a pair an acre if you push it. That would be $200 per acre for me. I can rent irrigated land for less than that.

I got a client who owns about 1000 acres with around 200 of it in pasture. Needed some fence work, we tried to get someone to run cows on it a few years back - free of charge for first 5 years then $25 per acre for pasture land - just to get things manicured and back the way it was. Couldn't find a sole to do it. Planted the whole thing in pine trees last year.

 

[MoGal]

That's $16.66 per month per pair. I don't know what the land looks like nor what pasture rents for up there.

Down here, I pay $7.00 per cow and $7.50 per cow/calf pair per month. But we do have mostly fescue pastures around here.

I guess it depends on how bad you want it, if the fella will negotiate a flat rate yearly amount, however if you get the prices you stated for your longhorns then I would guess it would depend on how convenient this land is to you? close by your house? etc...

 

[regenwether]

I don't know your age but if he might sell it....Buy it!! Rent money isn't a good long range investment.

 

[Rockin' J Longhorns]

See your point. Your in a different ball game than me. With margins like that, you probably could afford to do it. But it still seems steep to me. Do you think the guy is bumping the price cause he knows what type operation you got or is it that expensive to rent land there? Here, we can run a pair an acre if you push it. That would be $200 per acre for me. I can rent irrigated land for less than that.

I got a client who owns about 1000 acres with around 200 of it in pasture. Needed some fence work, we tried to get someone to run cows on it a few years back - free of charge for first 5 years then $25 per acre for pasture land - just to get things manicured and back the way it was. Couldn't find a sole to do it. Planted the whole thing in pine trees last year.

No the guy doesn't know what quality my cattle are. He has a guy that is offering him a lot of money for it for hunting ground. So if he doesn't get what he wants per pair for it he is going to sell it.

Pasture goes for $18 - $25 per acre in my area. Not many guys pay per pair around here. Pasture land is hard to find and when someone does they keep it for a long time.

 

[Double A Ranch]

Am I missing something?

$200 per head x 35 head = $7000

$25 per acre x 300 acres = $7500

If its land that would be worth the top end of the price per acre $25 then it would be a good deal. If its only worth the $18 acre then not so good.

 

[eric]

With the kind of figures you are throwing around, the $7000 per year would be a drop in the bucket.

On a side note, would it be possible to have someone cut and bale the pastures for you? Surely the 35 head aren't gonna eat up the entire 300 acres and the pasture across the street where he said you could keep your bulls.

Seems as if 1 decent calf sold out of the 35 or so would pay for the rent and the hay baler for the year.

 

[eric]

Also, if the place has had cattle on it, it is probably already set up with decent fencing and should have some way to get water to them, either a pond or well or something. Sounds like a reasonable offer to me, wish I could find something like that around here.