pasture lease increase

[dieselbeef]

I LEASE ABOUT 30 AC ATTATCHED TO MY HOUSE PASTURES...PAY 800 A YR CURRENTLY. owner WANT to raise it to 1350...

was complete trash when i got it...junk trash...terrible weeds and dogfennel over my head..now that its all good grass and most of the trees and trash are gone he wants to raise the rent...i only run a dozen cows...that would be about 30% of my profits...can hardly say no since i been on it 20 yrs. all the fencing is by my hand. all the cleanup and work is by my hands...im sure he could rent it for more but it being attatched to my property makes it a real good thing for me. some time ago he told me i was doing a great job rehabbing the place.

ive bought the 20 ac i own from him..built my legacy on it.

hes an 85 yr old guy who has sold the land he has owned in this cty since early 1950's. mad well over 90 million dollars. just closed a deal for 70 mil behind his old dairy farm.

wont sell me any of what i lease...

its 30% of what i can sell calfs for based on 500 each which in the past around here has been a fair price. market is up right now and i can afford it..but if it goes back down itll run me out of money and ill be barely able to buy hay. cows down here aint like the rest of the country...we get nothin for em here

 

[Brute 23]

I think all of us that lease land share in your frustrations on this subject.

It's definitely worth a counter offer, imo. Split the difference and go back at him first.

From a business stand point I would probably hold it and see what the cattle market does. You are exactly right about prices falling, but you can wait until they do to worry about it. You may get another 3-5 yrs out if these prices and who knows what could happen by then. If prices fall sooner, you can always dump it back in his lap, assuming you don't have a long term lease with penalties.

At a minimum, buy yourself time to control the game. You know who you are dealing with and what could happen now so can plan both strategically and mentally/ emotionally.

 

[dieselbeef]

its yearly..as long as i pay it i can keep it. i did counter btw...offered 1200...figured 40 /ac was fair enuff

 

[farmerjan]

We are in the same boat at one place... it was a mess when we got it... and now they are getting "educated" and studying up on these different grasses and have taken it upon themselves to plant some hot weather switch grass that just is not practical here.. management is all different... expect us to take care of it and all that now... all sorts of stuff it is in the thread "Pasture Rights" posted on here recently.... AND they said they need to go up on the rent now since we are going to be using that section... that they took away several years ago to get this stuff "established".... and they want it to be all pretty like the mowed hayfield and they can't seem to get it in their head that it is a totally different type of grass and cannot be mowed down to 6 inches like the rest of the grass mix in the other part of the field, and it is a BUNCH GRASS and will not spread out nice and evenly like the other pasture grasses...

We cleaned this place up from the weedy overgrown, badly overgrazed place and have more grass there this year than has ever been there... and we are expected to just keep paying more for it...

Yep, @dieselbeef .... I know EXACTLY where you are coming from....

 

[CowboyRam]

My bull pasture is leased from neighbor, and he takes care of the watering and everything. Although he did ask if I had leftover fertilizer to fertilize it, but there is never any left over fertilizer. He has been trying to kill the weeds, but has not had much success. Makes for a pretty good bull pasture, open water year round and is just across the highway from us. Makes it easy to feed the bulls in the wintertime.

 

[OBAX]

My advice would be to pay the lease increase, especially since the pasture joins you and you've had it leased for some time. As scarce as land is getting, if you don't lease it he will have no problem finding somebody that will. Prices are going up on everything, including leases. I believe until it gets over $100/acre you will regret letting it go.
And sometimes getting along with a current neighbor is worth a lot more than have my to get along with a new neighbor.

 

[ClinchValley86]

That's some bullshite. I would go ahead and take it, dang near impossible to find something touching.

I've agreed to two places this year at about $50 an acre per year

Compared to feeding the hay though, I am still coming out ahead.

All inputs are increasing. As are property values. It's only logical that rent will go up too. Sad but true i suppose.

 

[SBMF 2015]

What about a flex lease? Keep the base the same and as long as you make over X profit he gets a bonus. That way you both win while the market is up, but you don't lose when the market goes back down.