leasing

[Eastcoaster]

Has anybody have any experience in leasing out their cows? What sort of financial arrangements are made?

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Cow leases in this area are generally a 1/3 of calf crop split for the owner of the cows, if the owner provides no feed, pasture or any assistance at all. Most guys will put a low calf price clause into it whereby if calf prices drop below a certain level, the owner will only receive 1/4 of the calf crop. If the owner provides a certain amount of winter feed or provides summer pasture, their share goes up accordingly, but I've never heard of more than a half and half split.

Rod

[smcgrath76]

We lease cows out and it works well. When you lease cows you have to quit thinking like a cowboy and think like a bank instead. Who you are lending to is very important.
We try to work with the lessee and we take a smaller split, while they are responsible for replacements. We are sorting out a deal where we would supply the bulls as well, so there is some control over the genetics of the replacement females.
Benefits for them are lower cash costs, access to better genetics and a market for some calves (we are working on all).
Benefits for us are that we can expand and generate a healthy return without investment in land or labour, and we meet some really great people this way.