Leasing a field

[BrendaJune]

I answered an ad where a gentleman is looking for a field to train his new sheep dog on sheep herding. The sheep and dog will stay in the field. We have about 15 acres, fenced with vinyl and full of weeds. I have no idea what a reasonable fee would be. I don't know yet how long he wants the field. He is coming to look at it next week. We are in rural Nevada. We have never used the field and probably won't for years. Any thoughts?

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH from NE TX! So glad you joined us. There was another person on here recently discussing renting a neighbor's field. I can't make a recommendation, but suggest that you work it out with the person that's interested. Especially since you aren't using it and have no plans to do so in the near term... Please consider taking a minute to visit the new member's thread and introduce yourself so folks can welcome you properly. https://www.backyardherds.com/forums/new-member-introductions.17/ There's a wealth of info, knowledge and experience shared in the multitude of threads. Browse around and see what interesting stuff you can find. By all means post away when the desire strikes you, especially if you have questions (provide as much detail/info as possible and pictures truly help)... With all the great folks here, generally someone will respond in no time at all. Please make yourself at home!

PLEASE put at least your general location in your profile. It could be very important if/when you ask for or offer help or advice. You know, climate issues and such. I recommend at least your state as most folks won't be able to figure out where if you put anything more specific (county, town, street, etc) by itself. Old folks like me will never remember & look there first. To add it, mouse hover over Account top right and a drop down will appear. Click on Personal Details and scan down. You'll see the spot for Location. Then go to the bottom and save changes. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the site!

 

[Saitama]

I wonder how did your story ended up? Did you lease your field? What were the downsides of this deal? Sorry for all these questions, but my neighbor offers me a similar deal, and I dunno what to answer him.

 

[Mini Horses]

This is an OLD thread....doubt they'll answer.

As for you, do you want to use your neighbors field? Did you ask or they just offer? If you are interested what do you want use for? Is it set up -- fenced, cut, overgrown, adjacent, etc -- or not?

 

[Ridgetop]

@Saitama - If you want to use/lease the field, first inspect it and see if it is what you want in the way of grazing. How long is the neighbor offering it for?
Also talk to @farmerjan. She and her son run cattle and plant hay/corn/sorghum on leased land. She will know what to expect and have good information.

Here are a few things to consider:
1. How are the fences on the property? Fencing is the tenant's responsibility. Will it pay you to fence the property for the amount of use/grazing you will get from it? (Fencing is not cheap) Or are you planning to mow and bale hay? What kind of animals will you be putting on the field? 4-5 strand cattle fencing will not work for sheep, goats, or hogs. And if putting on sheep and goats, what about predator control? Will the fences hold in the LGDs if you use them?

2. What type of cover/forage is currently on the field? Is it good pasture? Hay field? Covered in brush that you will have to clear? Will it suit the purpose for which you plan to use it?

3. What do you plan to do with it? If you are going to graze it will the covering forage support your animals? Are there any poisonous plants that will need to be removed?

4. If you will be grazing animals is there a water source? Pond, creek, well, etc. or will you have to supply water daily? If the source is a pond or creek is it year-round or seasonal? If seasonal, that means you will have bring in water from somewhere during the summer. If a well, who pays the electricity bill for pumping, you or the owner? and is that figured into the cost of rent? Does the well feed into a livestock tank or will you have to install piping and a tank?

5. If the field has been overgrazed, will you have to apply fertilizer to get it back to productivity? I don't know where you are but in northeast TX we use 2 tons chicken litter per acre. You will have to locate someone to provide the litter, deliver it and spread it for you. On the other hand, if the field needs lime you will have to do the same with lime. Do a soil check to determine which you need. You might want to check with the County Ag Extension office.

6. MAKE SURE TO HAVE A CONTRACT IN WRITING setting out what you must do and what the owner is responsible for. The owner may be a neighbor and even a friend, but a written contract that you both can refer to will keep your relationship friendly. Handshake deals often result in each party having different expectations. As Queen Elizabeth said about Harry and Meghan "Recollections may vary." Generally the tenant is responsible for the fences, both installing new ones and repairing old ones. The tenant is usually also be responsible for fertilizing the land unless you come to a different agreement with the owner. I suggest that you have at least a year's lease, longer if you have to make improvements to the fencing, land, or water supply. You do not want to do a bunch of expensive improvements to the property and then have the owner sell it or not renew the lease. If you bring any equipment, portable fencing, etc. onto the field, make sure that it is moveable and that you notify the owner you will be removing it. You don't want the owner to claim your equipment when your lease is up. On the other hand, any repairs to the well, in ground water lines you install, etc. will be considered permanent and you cannot remove them.

We leased our 44 acres of pasture to a cattleman who used it for cow/calf pairs. He had been leasing it when we purchased the ranch, and we continued the lease at the same price of $1200 annual. The property is planted in good Bahia grass and has 2 ponds for water. The fences are cattle type fences (4-5 strand barbed wire) in good repair. Cody replaced 1800 linear feet of barbed wire fencing together with the neighbor on that side last year. Cody was well known to the previous owner since he went to school with her grandchildren (small town) and we were happy to continue the lease. Our lease contains a limit of how many cows or cow/calf pairs he can have on the land, but he knows ranching and is careful not to overgraze.

I don't know if $1200/yr is an average rent. That is what he was paying Mr. McDonald and we just continued it. He is a great tenant, and we rely on his experience. He also mows and sprays unwanted plants, cuts dead trees, and cares for the pastures. We are in northeast Texas and get an AG rate on property taxes if the land is used for agricultural purposes continuously, so we want to continue the AG use. We are in the process of putting up 6' woven wire sheep/LGD fencing on part of the property before moving on with our sheep. This year Cody removed his cattle because of the drought (he doesn't overgraze). When we were back there a few weeks ago he told me that he will not be bringing them back since he was not sure of our plans to move our sheep on. His lease is paid through the end of the year, so he will mow and bale hay this summer. Next year we are only using 15 acres, so we're continuing the lease on the remaining 30 acres - planning on a share lease for hay. We are paying for the chicken litter and will pay for liming, if needed, since we want to keep our land in good condition. Also, we are looking at receiving a share of the hay crop for our sheep so want productivity. But that is us, I can't speak for others who lease property. And some tenants overgraze without respect for the land.

@Frmerjan will have good information for you.

 

[farmerjan]

Everyone else has listed many of the questions. You need to really sit down and list answers to all the things that have already been asked/mentioned.
Did you approach the owner?
What is the condition of the field? Grasses, weeds, water source... FENCES?
What do you want it for?

Normally, up here in Va where we are.....there are 2 types of rents/leases/uses: Many places are simply used to make hay on and it is for the "mini-estate" owners to get ag tax breaks on their land. There are no fences, no water sources... and we simply cut the existing grass for hay. Some makes decent hay, some is so-so.
We do some bush-hogging on some of them around the edges or places that are too steep to make hay on, but we are doing less of that. Too much of a pain unless there is also very good useable land with it. And some we have done for years as a part of it and the rents are LESS because we do extras.
We do fertilizer because it will benefit us and the amount of hay. Not the owners responsibility.
If it needs lime, that is for the owner to pay for as it benefits the land long term... UNLESS we have a LONG TERM LEASE.... 5 year minimum but a couple we have for 10 yrs....and then we split it. We do not pay 100% of the lime on land that we do not own. PERIOD.

If it is to graze.... FENCES are the number one thing. Many older farms have crappy fences because they have been there forever and are falling down and overgrown. It costs alot in time and money to replace and/or repair fences. Several we did on a basis of the owner buys the material... fencing ,posts, etc... we do the work ...up to the amount of what the rent would be.... our time figured in at the going rate.... At an average of $5.00 a ft that a fence building company charges now... material and labor included.... that is about $3/ ft for the labor... a 330 ft roll of fence is worth $1500-1600 total... so worth $7-900 in labor.... one place we replaced one section of fence per year... which was about 2 or 2 1/2 rolls of fence and he bought all the material... The rent was worth 1200 a year when we started....We also did this with the understanding that we have a minimum of 5 year lease.....we put a little more into it than was actual cost.... but it is close, they are friends, and there are some other perks.
We have one place that has about 25 acres of "pasture", but it has alot of overgrowth of autumn olive bushes that are terrible invasive and we are losing grass there every year...it has a water source so that is good, the fences are not great and we have cows getting out regularly... the crop field is about 10-12 acres and we grow corn or soghum sudan grass on it... we had seeded it in orchard grass for making hay and the deer destroyed it. We planted winter cover crops and they ate it off to the dirt so for 2 years we did not plant anything... told the owner why... they don't realize the cost of planting a cover crop... seed costs 40-75 an ACRE for good coverage and according to what we use. They finally are allowing hunting there... but it is still ridiculous.... and not near enough are taken. We are overrun with deer here. If they are eating the crop as it comes up... that is like throwing away $1,000 every winter...

Many around here let you cut it for the hay so they can get the ag exemption on the taxes... they get nothing in money... but they save a bundle on their yearly taxes... Pastures are costly as owners seem to think they have a place worth gold... but unless the fences are new and water troughs and all are real good... there is alot of work to do the upkeep on old fences and it costs to fix any of it...

You also have to consider liability insurance if you run animals on someone elses property.....if they get out, tear up someones property, get hit on the road... anything.... most any homeowner will require it because if something happens, in today's world everyone is "sue crazy".....and they will not want to be responsible for your animals that got out loose from being pastured on their property.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yup! forgot to mention the insurance! I need to convert our insurance to owner occupied but make sure the farm policy covers more. Thanks, Jan!

 

[farmerjan]

Yup! forgot to mention the insurance! I need to convert our insurance to owner occupied but make sure the farm policy covers more. Thanks, Jan!

We carry a 1 million liability policy for the farm.... actually required by 2 of the places we rent/lease...but it helps to keep the rents a little lower since the owners know they do not need to carry it on their own policy at an increased cost... covers most everything...

 

[Mini Horses]

Do you guys carry an umbrella policy for the increased liability? It's normally a little less expensive to do that over several policies than to increase each property.

 

[farmerjan]

Yes, our farm policy covers any animals, equipment, anything, on any of the properties we own, rent/lease, make hay on, etc.