Pasture Rent

[ORVIS]

What’s the going rate for pasture rent in central Alberta?

With this continued drought and inflation on everything from taxes to electric what’s the going rate per head or cow calf pair.

I got 1 well drilled, good fence and easy access to the property.

Thanks!

[IL Bar]

Put it out for tender and you will find out. Cattle prices are up and pasture is in demand.

[Cement Bench]

I get about five grand. $ 5 thousand per quarter for hay and pasture land per year

it now gets paid by April 1st or April 30 or they are not allowed onto the land

tired of many promises and no money

average land

if they lease for 5 years make sure what they are planing and what year they zero till the land

keep the weeds down also

lease is for farm or crop use only and no oil rental or damages either

no snowmobiling hunting camping or other use of the land and the land is available only after the owner uses the land for whatever purpose they want

make a good lease and there is less problems

[Drewski Canuck]

If Grade one soil, east of Edmonton, and suitable for grain or canola, expect $100 per acre.

I do not know what a round bale is now worth, being 1200 pounds of Timothy mix, but with spring approaching, I would not be surprised to hear $150 a bale picked up on the field.

So if it is good pasture with good grass, and it replaces feeding at a feed lot, it should be equivalent to forage price for a cow - calf pair based on 100 head per Quarter.

If the pastures in the south take a few months to recover from the dry conditions last year, the closer good pasture is to a producer who needs it, the less the trucking costs.

Don't be surprised hearing as much as $8,000 from Mid May to beginning of October this year.

Just figure out the replacement bales needed for 100 head for that many months, less the trucking to pick up the feed, and there is a fair argument for value.

Drewski

[W921]

Originally Posted by ORVIS

What’s the going rate for pasture rent in central Alberta?

With this continued drought and inflation on everything from taxes to electric what’s the going rate per head or cow calf pair.

I got 1 well drilled, good fence and easy access to the property.

Thanks!

South of Calgary I paid $3 a day per pair and was lucky to get it. There are hay groups on Facebook. Supposed to be for selling hay or pasture but mostly was people begging for hay or pasture . join one group and offer your land to highest bidder . Kind of like an auction.

[pikeslayer22]

6 quarters just got rented out around here for 12k per quarter. Not sure how that can pencil out but it’s where we’re heading.

[Cement Bench]

Originally Posted by pikeslayer22

6 quarters just got rented out around here for 12k per quarter. Not sure how that can pencil out but it’s where we’re heading.

about where in the province

[Grizzly Adams1]

tired of many promises and no money

Not pasture, but buddy got scammed for 14 grand by a hay buyer from Airdrie before he wisened up.

[Who Da Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Cement Bench

about where in the province

He was talking about first snows east of Edmonton the other day.
WDF

[ditch donkey]

Depends.
Are you in the land rental business? With lots of time to deal with renters? Put it up for tendor. Get as much as you can. You’ll probably get paid. Probably on time.

I rent my quarter at $5500. Decent water, decent pasture, some marginal hay. He can keep cows on it from green up til Christmas. Some years he runs out of grass in late October, last year he pulled them mid September.
I fix the fence in the spring, he maintains it through the year. I use the land all year. He pays every year at the agreed time. No chasing for my money.

I’m not a fan of charging per head. Or per bale.

It’s one quarter. I could rent it for better than top dollar and it’d never make me rich. I rent it for a decent price, to a good fella, year after year. Pretty stress free.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by ditch donkey

Depends.
Are you in the land rental business? With lots of time to deal with renters? Put it up for tendor. Get as much as you can. You’ll probably get paid. Probably on time.

I rent my quarter at $5500. Decent water, decent pasture, some marginal hay. He can keep cows on it from green up til Christmas. Some years he runs out of grass in late October, last year he pulled them mid September.
I fix the fence in the spring, he maintains it through the year. I use the land all year. He pays every year at the agreed time. No chasing for my money.

I’m not a fan of charging per head. Or per bale.

It’s one quarter. I could rent it for better than top dollar and it’d never make me rich. I rent it for a decent price, to a good fella, year after year. Pretty stress free.

If you have a good renter, better to settle for a little less, I've been renting my crop land, a hundred acres, to the same guy for 30 years.

[TBark]

We have 90-95 open acres on one of our quarters near Valleyview.
Same neighbor renter for the past 7 years. He pays $2500 yr.
He watches out for our stuff too so a good deal we figure.

TBark

[canuck]

I get $120/ac for cultivated ground and $3/day for pasture
If we don't get some moisture this spring I'll be not renting the pasture - the drought was hard on the grass last year and it could stand a year of rest

[W921]

I think so much a day per cow calf pair is best for both sides.
The land owner gets paid for what grass is actually there because in a
dry year with grasshopper's there might not be much there. If renter pays you so much to rent the quarter he is going to be less inclined to over graze to try to recover what he over paid for the land.
Renting sucks. Ive over paid in wet years so I could count on the grass in dry years only to be pushed out when I really needed it.
Another problem is people die of old age and kids will just pull rug out from under you.
I'm pretty easy to get a long with but with renting land you can put a lot of good will into a property by fencing out neighbors ,fixing corrals,spraying weeds,and cutting brush and countless other things and the more you fix it up the more other people want to rent and start promising the moon to your landowner. Sometimes the land owner just buys his own cows.
Back when normal rent was a dollar a day was normal rate I was paying double that for many years. Then the drought came. One property after another I lost for different reasons. Makes more sense to just keep amount of cows I have grass for than to try to rely on renting.

[KBF]

Originally Posted by canuck

I get $120/ac for cultivated ground and $3/day for pasture
If we don't get some moisture this spring I'll be not renting the pasture - the drought was hard on the grass last year and it could stand a year of rest

What area are you in?

[FishOutOfWater]

Originally Posted by KBF

What area are you in?

His profile says "NW of CALGARY"... Likely around Cochrane somewhere.

[canuck]

Originally Posted by KBF

What area are you in?

Originally Posted by FishOutOfWater

His profile says "NW of CALGARY"... Likely around Cochrane somewhere.

Yes, a bit N of Cochrane actually - acreage country.
The land here is marginal for farming but, with help from mother nature, produces a decent greenfeed and hay yield.
My renters have had this piece for close to 15 yrs now - since my dad retired (now deceased) and sold his cows and they have been good to us as we have to them.
Rentable pasture here is in high demand and I could probably squeeze a bit more from the place but I'm happy to have my neighbor as a friend and steward of my place.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by canuck

Yes, a bit N of Cochrane actually - acreage country.
The land here is marginal for farming but, with help from mother nature, produces a decent greenfeed and hay yield.
My renters have had this piece for close to 15 yrs now - since my dad retired (now deceased) and sold his cows and they have been good to us as we have to them.
Rentable pasture here is in high demand and I could probably squeeze a bit more from the place but I'm happy to have my neighbor as a friend and steward of my place.

Potential development land worth Millions and Rocky view is on board. Much of that is already held by developers biding their time, some farmer keeping the grass short is just a bonus.

[ORVIS]

Originally Posted by canuck

I get $120/ac for cultivated ground and $3/day for pasture
If we don't get some moisture this spring I'll be not renting the pasture - the drought was hard on the grass last year and it could stand a year of rest

$3/day seems to be the going rate as I just rented mine out for that price

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by ORVIS

$3/day seems to be the going rate as I just rented mine out for that price

How many head are you pasturing? 100 head would be $9000 a month. A good cultivated quarter goes for about $19000 for the growing season. Having trouble reconciling the rent for pasture/hay land, with good crop land.

[dfarms11]

Dean, I'm curious why you think one can graze 100 head on 1 quarter? 30 to 50 seems to be about the norm around here. I'm not certain you could even do it with intense grazing. Not being confrontational, just genuinly curious. I'd consider putting more land into grazing if I could get those numbers.

[Trochu]

Originally Posted by dfarms11

Dean, I'm curious why you think one can graze 100 head on 1 quarter? 30 to 50 seems to be about the norm around here. I'm not certain you could even do it with intense grazing. Not being confrontational, just genuinly curious. I'd consider putting more land into grazing if I could get those numbers.

I think he was just using that number as an example. If you use 30, it's even worse, $2,700.00/month.

[dfarms11]

Originally Posted by Trochu

I think he was just using that number as an example. If you use 30, it's even worse, $2,700.00/month.

$2700 x 4 to 5 months is a pretty good yearly rental. I think anyway. Or maybe I'm missing the point.

[W921]

A quarter section that in wet years with newer alfalfa, grass established could produce 400 short tons of hay and then provide a few months grazing in the fall for 30 pairs.
That same quarter in a drought with grasshopper's might produce enough to feed a few saddle horses year round.
I remember when years ago I was hearing stories of 85 a acre rent for cultivated land so I tried to rent out mine and was offered 35

[Dean2]

Trochu is correct, it was just an arbitrary number. Where I was going with this is, crop or pasture, it is not much of a return on a quarter that is worth from 300,000 to to well over 1,000,000. Even on the cheaper pasture quarters, it is only about 4.5%. On the more expensive crop quarters it is in the 2% ball park.

[W921]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Trochu is correct, it was just an arbitrary number. Where I was going with this is, crop or pasture, it is not much of a return on a quarter that is worth from 300,000 to to well over 1,000,000. Even on the cheaper pasture quarters, it is only about 4.5%. On the more expensive crop quarters it is in the 2% ball park.

Ag land is way past what its actually worth for what you can grow on it.
People buy it for recreation or as a investment to sell down the road. Hutterite colonies can buy it but they are counting on their children or grand children to pay it off.
Feedlots or Super, rich born on third base types can also buy it but they have different circumstances. Extremely deep pockets and or bit of government help.

[ORVIS]

Originally Posted by Dean2

How many head are you pasturing? 100 head would be $9000 a month. A good cultivated quarter goes for about $19000 for the growing season. Having trouble reconciling the rent for pasture/hay land, with good crop land.

28 head from May till End of Sept

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by ORVIS

28 head from May till End of Sept

So ballpark 12 to 13,000 a year. On 300,000 that is 4%, which isn't too bad, but it is fully taxable. However, land has the advantage that the value grows over time, and usually at a pace well above inflation. Pasture land could be bought up north 12-14 years ago, for between 40 and 75,000 a quarter. Today, those same quarters are selling for +350,000, more if you sell to the Hutterites. Over 12 years, the oil field rent and pasture rent, have paid back nearly 100% of the purchase price.

Using 4 quarters as an example, there aren't many places where you can turn $280,000 into $1.4 million in 14 years, while also collecting $240,000 in cash rents. Back in 2010, everyone thought $70,000 a quarter for semi bush was just a nutty price, never going to pay for itself. You hear the same story about raw land today, but they aren't making any more of it, so it will keep going up.