Grazing Lease Rates

Leasing land to another person for grazing purposes can benefit both the landowner and lessee by allowing an additional source of income for the landowner and by permitting the lessee to run livestock on land without incurring the long-term debt associated with purchasing property.

When renting land for grazing cows and calves, the most common option is a cash rent by the acre. Issues in the agreement would typically address such things as stocking rate, maintenance of fences and improvements, weed and brush management, lease terms, and the rate per acre.

You may have heard a rule-of-thumb is that it takes 1.5 to 2 acres to feed a cow calf pair for 12 months. That means we should be able to have 10 to 13 cows. Let's see how this rule-of-thumb holds up. It looks like our rule-of-thumb held up pretty good, 11 cows on 20 acres, is 1.8 acres per cow.

NSW DPI state that although there is no prescriptive method, but generally lease values are reasonably stable between 59% of land value. For example, if land is valued at $2,500/ha and the agreed rate is 6% of the land value, the rental payment would be $150/ha.

Rent Paid for Agricultural Land At $138 per acre, the average rate to rent cropland in the United States in 2018 was $2 higher than in 2017. For irrigated cropland, the average rate per acre was $215 (up slightly from $212 in 2017) and for non-irrigated cropland it was $125 (up from $123).

The average rental for a sheep and beef farm ranged between $30-$35 per stock unit. But for land suitable for dairy support purposes, rental could be between $40-$50 per stock unit.

When renting land for grazing cows and calves, the most common option is a cash rent by the acre. Issues in the agreement would typically address such things as stocking rate, maintenance of fences and improvements, weed and brush management, lease terms, and the rate per acre.