How to Calculate Pasture Rent

How to Calculate Pasture Rent

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.?

Whether you are a landowner with available ground or someone with livestock looking for a pasture to rent; fair calculation of a rent price is important. So how is that calculated and what does it include?

Frank Hendrix, Faculty and Extension at Washington State University in Yakima, says the baseline for pasture rent is usually $1 a day per Animal Unit Month --or per cow/calf pair, for example-- or higher, but there are other elements to consider in determining that fair rent price.

Hendrix: “This is a question that we get most often each spring. You have to determine first what the forage population of the pasture is. If it is an excellent stand of very excellent pasture, then it is at a higher rate than if it is a played out stand. Then you have to decide who is going to do the fencing management, who is going to put in the mineral, take care of any health problems, that kind of thing. And then the two parties need to talk and try to figure out exactly what the situation is. Each pasture is going to be different for renting.”

Other items to consider in factoring a fair rent is a price comparison of hay or alternative feed sources. Discuss who will be responsible for moving water, as well as who will be managing the care of the animals. Supply and demand of available pasture will also play a role in factoring rent prices.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.