Brood cow leases?

[jasonleonard]

http://winchester.craigslist.org/grd/4127858211.html
Just found this ad interesting. This guy keeps the cows all year long and cow owner gets 40% of calf sale price in the fall. Cow owner owns cow and gets the cull money when cow is culled.
What do you all think? This is new to me.

 

[snake67]

I have run lease cows before - under the right circumstances it can work. We did it on a handshake and we all made money.

Unless you are in it for the long haul, you have an iron clad contract and you know the person well enough to trust with your cash I have this advice and it is one word: RUN!

Best to all

Bez

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Sounds like a good way to get taken to me.

 

[Dega Moo]

Sounds like a good way to get taken to me.

My understanding is that cow leasing is a way to help people get a leg up starting a herd without putting a lot of initial capital into the cows, so it makes a reasonable way prior to death and inheritance to transfer some wealth to family members. This can also be used to develop a long term local market for seed stock; to start a cooperative group that markets steers in pot loads etc. The capital requirements to start and sustain a new herd can be impossible for young people who aren't yet established and if we don't get younger herdsmen involved the American cattle future will be one of corporate farming.

Our ranch owner was very interested in trying this with one local young man so we gave it a go. He started with nine of our bred heifers on pasture and a promise from him that he'd get his working corral and chutes built and installed promptly. Turned out he didn't have enough decent pasture and he failed to get his facilities built. When a couple of girls had trouble he couldn't get them caught up and controlled and the vet couldn't or wouldn't help without them being in a head gate.

He kept the heifer calves he got and sent everything else back. All in all it wasn't a satisfactory experiment.