annmariemz23
Well-known member
We are looking to lease ground for 6 months for our cattle in Northern California. Wondering what full care is going for now?
I think it can work in any area. Your "contract" (a written contract spelling out expectations/obligations of each party is very important) can have anything and everything in it that you can imagine... and will vary for each individual custom grazer. You're offering a "service", and the more "benefits" you can offer, the more appealing will be your services vs. your competition (which can also include the cattle owners OWN facilities/pasture). Good fences and maintenance? Water with the cattle? Daily moves? Pasture maintained at optimum? Weed control? Handling facilities? Quality of handling facilities? Health monitoring? Treatment of animals as needed? Year round? Calving included? COMMUNICATION WITH THE ANIMAL OWNER? Everything you can add to the list adds to your operation's appeal, AND VALUE.How does it work with yearlings? Do they pay per head or paid for gain, or how does that work?
Also, how does the cow/calf thing work. What does full care entail?
Do people do this during the winter also? Hay feeding season...
Ive wondered if this would work in my area.
Very well put. And thank you.I think it can work in any area. Your "contract" (a written contract spelling out expectations/obligations of each party is very important) can have anything and everything in it that you can imagine... and will vary for each individual custom grazer. You're offering a "service", and the more "benefits" you can offer, the more appealing will be your services vs. your competition (which can also include the cattle owners OWN facilities/pasture). Good fences and maintenance? Water with the cattle? Daily moves? Pasture maintained at optimum? Weed control? Handling facilities? Quality of handling facilities? Health monitoring? Treatment of animals as needed? Year round? Calving included? COMMUNICATION WITH THE ANIMAL OWNER? Everything you can add to the list adds to your operation's appeal, AND VALUE.
Yearlings can be same as C/c, with just a set fee per day, OR, it can be done on gain. If you're a good manager of your pastures, you can potentially benefit from "pay on gain", and the cattle owner then can too. If you're not as good a manager of the pasture/animals, you probably have less "risk" on a $/day fee schedule. However, all cattle are not created equal, and some will "gain" more easily than others, so getting paid on "gain" could come back to bite you too.
I chose not to carry my "custom grazed cow herd" this winter, mostly because I don't have "winter water" out in the pasture yet for them. That'll be fixed this next year, and then I'll be keeping them all year long. So yes, some custom grazers DO do it all year long, through hay feeding season too. My animal owner will purchase some hay from me, and bring in some hay beyond what I don't have available for feeding.
Do some research, find out what the market might be in your area, figure out what you will need to be successful, and put your operation out there. Remember though that you don't have a custom grazing business, if you don't have a happy animal owner. You're creating a partnership, where you BOTH need each other, and you BOTH have to be successful for it to work. You can't take all the money out of it for your cattle owner, and he can't take it all out of it for you either. This has to be a partnership where you BOTH have respect for each other, and are looking out for each other, or it won't work.