hold em or fold em?

[Velvet]

Help!

We have about 30 cattle that we owned through a partnership with a neighbor. Most of the cattle were on the other guy's land. He recently sold his property sorta unexpected and now all the cows are on our 15 ares... I need help to know what to do....naturally we want to dissolve the partnership in such a way as to get as much for the investment as possible. I want to keep some cows for myself but don't have enough land or $$ to buy out my buddy. Should I sell the cows now or should I buy more hay and keep em till spring :?:

what do you think and why?

thank you so much!

 

[ALACOWMAN]

well if you are {or you lived} in my area. you couldnt afford the hay if you can find it, to hold em to spring. id sell half or as much as you hay will take you. and advertise the others to be bought off the farm. if you have to take em to the barn sell em like a herd reduction. that will be more appealing to the buyer

 

[CowCop]

~

Keep the best, sell the rest--right from the farm--avoid the sale barns if possible..
Cash & Carry.

Take some good clear photos of the cattle.

Use Low cost & free advertising such as your state ag newsletter, craigslist.com, fliers at your grain dealers etc.

It works quickly if done correctly.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Help!

We have about 30 cattle that we owned through a partnership with a neighbor. Most of the cattle were on the other guy's land. He recently sold his property sorta unexpected and now all the cows are on our 15 ares... I need help to know what to do....naturally we want to dissolve the partnership in such a way as to get as much for the investment as possible. I want to keep some cows for myself but don't have enough land or $$ to buy out my buddy. Should I sell the cows now or should I buy more hay and keep em till spring :?:

what do you think and why?

thank you so much!

Given the issue that the 30 cattle are "jointly"(?) owned by you and your neighbor, I would imagine 2 scenarios: (a) sell all ASAP and split the proceeds; or (b) sell one or more at a time and split the proceeds. What about his/your pasture? What was the value of that grazing, situation?

Sounds like if you don't have a formal written partnership agreement, one or both of you are in for some disagreements.

Learn from this experience and move on... ;-)

 

[dun]

You could sort them into halves along with the partner. Sell his half then cull your half down to what you wanted to keep

 

[KenB]

You could sort them into halves along with the partner. Sell his half then cull your half down to what you wanted to keep

dun solves the problem again.

 

[hgfarmer]

Dun's right.......

 

[Avalon]

Dun's right.......

what he said !

 

[msscamp]

Help!

We have about 30 cattle that we owned through a partnership with a neighbor. Most of the cattle were on the other guy's land. He recently sold his property sorta unexpected and now all the cows are on our 15 ares... I need help to know what to do....naturally we want to dissolve the partnership in such a way as to get as much for the investment as possible. I want to keep some cows for myself but don't have enough land or $$ to buy out my buddy. Should I sell the cows now or should I buy more hay and keep em till spring :?:

what do you think and why?

thank you so much!

What breed, registered or commercial, bred or open? Have you talked to him about this? If so, what were his thoughts? Is this a formal partnership, or one formed through a handshake? Is it a 50/50 partnership or some other percentage? Can you collect on his half of the hay for these animals? Depending on the answers to the above questions, I believe I would look long and hard at selling them. I don't know what area you're in, but I have some serious reservations at your ability to buy hay for 30 head on 15 acres, and your pasture will probably be trashed if you keep them til spring. Since he sold his land knowing that you didn't have adequate land for them, without notifying you, and apparently leaving you with the feed bill - I would load them up and haul them to the local salebarn. I would then pay off the partner, dissolve the partnership, use my proceeds to buy a few head that my acreage would sustain and I could afford to feed. Yes, there will probably be a loss involved, but at least I would have the knowledge that I didn't have to worry about a former partner trying to come back on me, and my pasture would be salvagable. But, on the other hand, I avoid partnerships like the plague just because of situations like this.

 

[Velvet]

First off thanks so much for the input!

In our partnership I know more about cows and he had land and $$ -He approached me about the possibility of a partnership and he put the majority of the cash in. He is willing to wait for his $$ and wants to do whatever will get him the biggest return as am I.

I am located in Missouri, we had a good hay year and it is widely available.

I have some hay although I was counting on the stockpiled forage on my buddy's 156 acres to help through the winter.

I need help in knowing if I am going to gain or loose anything significant by holding these cows over the winter and marketing them in the spring as opposed to now.

I mostly have Angus cross bred cows / cow calf pairs +a registered Angus bull & some replacement heifers I was planing on raising out to keep.

You could sort them into halves along with the partner. Sell his half then cull your half down to what you wanted to keep

Being that my buddy doesn't know hoot about cows and put in most of the dough this sort of split prolly won't do. I need to get the most cash from these animals as possible then split that.

Keep the best, sell the rest--right from the farm--avoid the sale barns if possible..
Cash & Carry.

Take some good clear photos of the cattle.

Use Low cost & free advertising such as your state ag newsletter, craigslist.com, fliers at your grain dealers etc.

It works quickly if done correctly.

anybody have more tips how to do this sort of marketing "correctly"?

Thanks again for the help :cboy:

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Sell all the animals now and figure out what your partners cash share will be based on the percentage of money you and he put in. Or if he agrees,take your share in the animals you would like to keep. Either way the faster you dissolve this agreement the better off you will be. And get the final agreemant in writing and signed by both parties. ;-)

 

[bgm]

We had a good hay year? Not where I am. You'd better have a supply of hay already or a pile of money if your keeping them through the winter. Hay here is going to be in short supply again and what I've seen it's going up fast. We just didn't get any rain for the last part of the season. The second cutting was only about 30% of normal. Not sure what part of Missouri your in, but I'd check the hay close before I made any decision.

 

[stocky]

Velvet,

Dissolving partnership cattle can always have lingering hard feelings. It is hard to imagine that you could divide the herd in half and get the best cattle in your half.
I would recommend that you take all of them to the sale barn and buy back the ones you want. That way, there are never any hard feelings because the price is exactly what they are worth that day and you can pick and choose what you want. It is a quick, easy, clean way to dissolve a partnership.
As to your question about the timing, I live in SW Missouri and the last few years, the highest market of the year has been the first special cow sale after Jan. 1. For me, that is normally at Harrison, Ark but the droughts the last 2 years have changed that. The last 2 years highest special sale of the year that I have seen has been at Brookline, west of Springfield. I dont know where you are located, so that might not be an option. If you are in north Mo, a later sale might be better. I only know about our area.
With the price of grain, fuel, fertilize and everything else going through the roof, it is hard to believe cows will be worth more later. Many times cow-calf pairs bring the same in March that the green tag brought in January.
Best of luck

 

[js2743]

sale every thing take them to the auction house divide the money and that way you stay friends. then later if you want more you can save the money and buy back.

he bailed out on you so just do the same get rid of them as fast as can be done.

 

[Brandonm2]

sale every thing take them to the auction house divide the money and that way you stay friends. then later if you want more you can save the money and buy back.

he bailed out on you so just do the same get rid of them as fast as can be done.

I agree completely.

If you want 5 or 6 of the cows just buy them yourself when they run through the ring. 30 cows on 15 acres (if they are fed well enough too gain) is going to cost a good bit.