Potential lease place. Grazing land will need some work

[DCA farm]

place a family member is gonna let me run a few head on. Just need to clean it up put up fence along the front and do a little patch work here and there on the other sides I think letting it burn will probably be my best option hasn't been bush hogged in going on 2 years now. It has a natural spring that Keeps water year round.

 

[callmefence]

Careful you can spend to much quick. Especially if you don't have a long term deal

 

[Texasmark]

Check for any County burn bans in effect. Around here burning off is on a damp day, wind 5mph or less and a couple of trips with a 10' or so tandem disc to act as a fire break around the perimeter. If you have a local fire department, give them a shout as to your intentions when you are ready to torch the place.

Burning doesn't remove weed seeds in the soil and you can expect them to be with you as soon as any kind of growth occurs.

A better solution would be to turn the cows in on it now and have them knock down what they can. Then, before the rains set in, run the hog over it and disc the clippings in the soil. If any rye was ever planted there you will have rye shoots with the first rain. If you get the cows off it and let it make, you will have a rye winter pasture which will die off in the late spring when it gets hot and time for your grass to emerge. If any Bermuda or Johnson Grass currently in the pasture, they will love you for tearing up the soil....thanks coming in late spring from them with grazing about 1 June through out the summer.

Rotational grazing gives you the best bang for your buck. Once you get the above setup, divide the place and when the cows have knocked down half of it fairly well....leaving a good amount of stubble, move them over to the other half and repeat the process. You can hotwire the process and run your wires so that they had access to water from either section.

 

[DCA farm]

Careful you can spend to much quick. Especially if you don't have a long term deal

Family member bought it planning to build a house but decided not to. Told me I can run cows on it long as I want

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Careful you can spend to much quick. Especially if you don't have a long term deal

Family member bought it planning to build a house but decided not to. Told me I can run cows on it long as I want

If you are expending any significant money or labor getting the place going, you need to get a long term written lease. Have heard of numerous situations where person did quite a bit of fence work and pasture improvement. About the time place was getting productive enough to repay them, the owner either leased place to someone else or sold it and tennant got the shaft. Heard of situation where owner died with no written lease and the heirs sold land, leaving tennant no time to recoup his fairly recent improvements. If not in writing, very difficult to prove or enforce.

 

[jltrent]

Don't know were you are located, but from looking at pics there is not much there a cow will eat. Building fences, seeding land, cleaning up, buying cattle, the way the cattle business is it will be hard to make much if any there.

 

[kilroy60]

Careful you can spend to much quick. Especially if you don't have a long term deal

Family member bought it planning to build a house but decided not to. Told me I can run cows on it long as I want

If you are expending any significant money or labor getting the place going, you need to get a long term written lease. Have heard of numerous situations where person did quite a bit of fence work and pasture improvement. About the time place was getting productive enough to repay them, the owner either leased place to someone else or sold it and tennant got the shaft. Heard of situation where owner died with no written lease and the heirs sold land, leaving tennant no time to recoup his fairly recent improvements. If not in writing, very difficult to prove or enforce.

Yes, take heed to this post. Regardless of your relationship with the land owner, I would have a written lease in hand. It protects both of you. From looks at pictures, you're going to have to put a lot into it to get it "pasture" ready. Fencing, bush hogging, spraying, seed, etc., is going to be expensive. Do you have all the equipment to do all this work? If you have to hire someone to do some of it, that's more cost. Get a written lease. It'll be worth it in the long run.

 

[callmefence]

Careful you can spend to much quick. Especially if you don't have a long term deal

Family member bought it planning to build a house but decided not to. Told me I can run cows on it long as I want

Understood, how much you count on that is your decision to make.

Some examples... I have a place I cleared a overgrown pecan orchard for 5 years lease straight up.

Another example I built about a half mile of fence on a place. I still pay rent. But I'm guaranteed the place for 12 years. If I'm run off in 11 for something not my fault, I get paid for the fence. In full.
Nobody should blame you for protecting yourself. Wether you do it with a handshake or ink and paper. It's your decision . Make your concerns clear.

 

[Texasmark]

Careful you can spend to much quick. Especially if you don't have a long term deal

Family member bought it planning to build a house but decided not to. Told me I can run cows on it long as I want

If you are expending any significant money or labor getting the place going, you need to get a long term written lease. Have heard of numerous situations where person did quite a bit of fence work and pasture improvement. About the time place was getting productive enough to repay them, the owner either leased place to someone else or sold it and tennant got the shaft. Heard of situation where owner died with no written lease and the heirs sold land, leaving tennant no time to recoup his fairly recent improvements. If not in writing, very difficult to prove or enforce.

I realized when I bought this property upon which I currently live, that one day I wouldn't be able, nor want to maintain a large place. So I leased most of my land for my farming effort over the years.....being 78 today, my aspirations were correct.

All the land I leased was in shambles and the owners wanted a "sucker" to clean it up for them, or do something associated with agriculture so that they could maintain their Ag. Ad-valorem Tax status. I saw potential in the places I selected and around here word of mouth is how you did business so a handshake signed the agreement. I always felt that anything I put into the place was a loss. With that mentality, I wasn't all that concerned when I lost or left a particular place.

I just revisited the pictures posted with this listing. I think I saw half a dozen weeds, otherwise all I saw (viewing from the eyes of a cow) was Yum Yum! I'd run a hog around the perimeter to get a perimeter clean line established and install a crude hot wire, 14 ga. single strand, standoffs 30' apart, 3' off the ground, using the trees for corner posts when available, run by a solar charger.

With what's there I doubt there will be much if any wire challenging and as soon as it got bumped a couple of times by unwary bovines, you could turn off the juice. I've seen a single wire 6" off the ground maintain a 30ish steer herd in a 30ish lot. Cows would even stand on their side and eat across the wire but never did any cross it. I didn't see what transpired prior to my observation on that particular herd nor lot, and they probably got acclamated to the fence, or an electrified fence there prior to what I saw.

Let them clean it up and then execute Plan B.