Heifer wintering.

[George]

I ran out of time this fall to build a bigger heifer pen,before the ground froze.So my neighbour has a big empty corral with a cattle shelter that he said i can leave my heifers in,until i bring them home in spring to put with the bull.I have hauled all the hay and straw round bales there that he will need to winter them,all he needs to do is make sure the hay feeder is always full and bed them and make sure they are healthy.Any idea on what he should charge me a day for each heifer that is at his house?Thank you.

 

[angus9259]

Hard to say since you're providing the feed. Maybe $1 per head per day??? If it were me I probably wouldn't charge you anything just to be neighborly. That said, I would also do the work myself (take them feed and bedding etc) so he didn't have to do any work at all. If you trust him to care for your heifers, why not just ask him what he wants? Probably should have been done before you dropped everything off I suppose.

 

[SRBeef]

Assuming you trust this person, it seems reasonable to at least offer him a reasonable hourly rate for any labor he provides. He may say, aw forget it, but at least you offerred. Or he may in fact take you up on it. He may need the money, who knows. Nice to offer something at least. jmho.

Jim

 

[EAT BEEF]

how many head and how long?

 

[3waycross]

Why not figure out how long it should take to do it and then be honest with yourself what you think is fair money for that much time.

 

[msscamp]

I ran out of time this fall to build a bigger heifer pen,before the ground froze.So my neighbour has a big empty corral with a cattle shelter that he said i can leave my heifers in,until i bring them home in spring to put with the bull.I have hauled all the hay and straw round bales there that he will need to winter them,all he needs to do is make sure the hay feeder is always full and bed them and make sure they are healthy.Any idea on what he should charge me a day for each heifer that is at his house?Thank you.

We run a horse boarding business and we charge $2.00/day/animal to feed when the kids are gone for longer than just a week-end. That price does not include cleaning runs/stalls, etc. How far away is your neighbor? Is there a reason that you can't go over there and feed/bed/check your heifers yourself?

 

[George]

Hard to say since you're providing the feed. Maybe $1 per head per day??? If it were me I probably wouldn't charge you anything just to be neighborly. That said, I would also do the work myself (take them feed and bedding etc) so he didn't have to do any work at all. If you trust him to care for your heifers, why not just ask him what he wants? Probably should have been done before you dropped everything off I suppose.

If it was me,i wouldn;t charge the neighbour anything for the use of the corral,and since i have the tractor running everyday i would look after his calves just because that's the kind of guy i am.Why should he drive over here everyday,when i'm already here and i don't mind doing the work.I defiantly trust him to look after my calves,i can guarantee when i bring them home from his house in april his wife and there teenager's will have everyone of the calves expecting to be petted.I have asked him what he wants to look after them,and he has no idea what to charge.We do favours for these people,borrow them equipment for free,help them out when they are short on feed for there cattle,we never expect anything for it either.His wife stops by at christmas,and ussually once in the summer.With a box full of home made jams and baking,and to me that is more then payment in full.So i think that is why he is having trouble charging me anything for doing it.I have been asking him for quite sometime what he wants in payment,he just said bring the bales and the heifers and we will work something out later.

 

[George]

how many head and how long?

15 heifers and they will come back home april 1st,so i can put them with the bull.

 

[George]

I ran out of time this fall to build a bigger heifer pen,before the ground froze.So my neighbour has a big empty corral with a cattle shelter that he said i can leave my heifers in,until i bring them home in spring to put with the bull.I have hauled all the hay and straw round bales there that he will need to winter them,all he needs to do is make sure the hay feeder is always full and bed them and make sure they are healthy.Any idea on what he should charge me a day for each heifer that is at his house?Thank you.

We run a horse boarding business and we charge $2.00/day/animal to feed when the kids are gone for longer than just a week-end. That price does not include cleaning runs/stalls, etc. How far away is your neighbor? Is there a reason that you can't go over there and feed/bed/check your heifers yourself?

No there is no reason,why i couldn't look after them everyday.I was just thinking if they were his and at my house,i wouldn't expect him to come over everyday and look after them,when i can do the work myself.Thank you for the suggestion,i'm defiantly going to ask him.

 

[msscamp]

We run a horse boarding business and we charge $2.00/day/animal to feed when the kids are gone for longer than just a week-end. That price does not include cleaning runs/stalls, etc. How far away is your neighbor? Is there a reason that you can't go over there and feed/bed/check your heifers yourself?

No there is no reason,why i couldn't look after them everyday.I was just thinking if they were his and at my house,i wouldn't expect him to come over everyday and look after them,when i can do the work myself.Thank you for the suggestion,i'm defiantly going to ask him.

I learned a very long time ago that if you want your animals taken care of right, do it yourself. No one else will do it like you would and, when something goes wrong - and it will - the issues of blame are already resolved. ;-)

 

[Alan]

Not quite the same but close, the last few years I have taken 2 or 3 yearling steers to a neighbors place. He has about 3 fenced acres of pasture and nothing to keep the grass down. So from mid March through most of September my steers keep his grass down. When I approached him on it he said he wanted nothing in return, each year I give him (single guy) about 20lbs or so of our freezer beef and I make sure I do 100% of the work... watering, mending fences and out buildings. My point is neighbors, may say they don't care and we'll work it out later, but happy neighbors are good neighbors, and some neighbors need tall, sturdy fences between you. Nothing ruins a neighborly relationship faster than feeling like they got taken advantage of.

JMO,
Alan

 

[farmwriter]

Not quite the same but close, the last few years I have taken 2 or 3 yearling steers to a neighbors place. He has about 3 fenced acres of pasture and nothing to keep the grass down. So from mid March through most of September my steers keep his grass down. When I approached him on it he said he wanted nothing in return, each year I give him (single guy) about 20lbs or so of our freezer beef and I make sure I do 100% of the work... watering, mending fences and out buildings. My point is neighbors, may say they don't care and we'll work it out later, but happy neighbors are good neighbors, and some neighbors need tall, sturdy fences between you. Nothing ruins a neighborly relationship faster than feeling like they got taken advantage of.

JMO,
Alan

Well put! :clap: :clap: :clap: