Belinda Stronach

[whiteface]

I agree totally in theory grassfarmer, unfortunatly when it comes to the reality of actually looking for pasture to rent and what does it take to talk people into giving it up around here I sure haven't found anyone willing to do for less than than what has been previously stated. Whether these "oil guys" have too much money or simply feel it's worth that for their headache of haveing someone else's problems infringe on their life or they will simply just drive their toys on their land and take nothing in the way of "extra cash." These guys who can afford this land don't need the cash or the headaches. All the power to anyone able to find cheaper forage. I haven't. Frankly, I too, would be one of the ones who said, X number of dollars for your mutts to graze my land or I don't need the headache either. You can accuse me of haveing "too much money" if you want but if I didn't have the money and was desperate for the cash the first thing to go would be this sweet little farm that cost a fortune to buy and maintain and if I needed to get "free" money from renting it out I feel I would need to seriously consider why I needed the extra cash so much in the first place. I would and have already asked myself what needs to be cut fast to stop the bottomless pit of cash outflow. The land is what I have come back to time and time again as the great cash vacume. Really not out to offend anyone and I do appreciate everyone's observations. These are just mine and have a good day all!

[kpb]

grassfarmer, I agree with whiteface in this one. I do not believe you will be able to find decent grass in central Alberta on a sustainable basis for less than a dollar a day. I believe you are mistaken when you say prices will drop because of supply demand forces. The fact is that those forces are not in play here.

As Whiteface said, the farmers who are renting their summer grass will not do it for less than a buck a day. I wouldn't either because it is simply not worth the hassle of having a renter on the place. I don't believe you will ever see the land for less than that and you will be waiting for a long, long time for land rent to decline below that. Most guys, like myself, would rather see the land idle than just get a pittance for it.

I also agree with Whiteface that it is land values that will force people out of the cattle business. In fact I have already seen it with many of my neighbours who have given up cattle, sold most of the land, and are having a very nice life on a piece of land with a couple of cows. It is not, as you said, that these people paid too much for their land-rather the opposite, they made a wise investment when land prices were low and are now selling out and retiring now that land prices are high. They are, in a sense, being forced out of cattle, by the high current land prices and the new owners are certainly not cattlemen.

Grassfarmer, like any businessman, you have to examine your return on assets. If you bought your land for $200,000 and it is now worth on the market $800,000 and you are earning $40,000 a year from your cows that may have been a 20% return on capital when you invested in the land but it is now just a 5% return. Now you can quibble about the figures and tell me how you are renting cheap land and grazing your cows all winter if you want but the fact is, as poor boy said quite well, that you are earning a 5% return on your investment (land) and you could do that without the work by putting your money in the bank.

The future of ranching, as always, lies with the operation being based far from expensive land, with cheap cows on lots of cheap land and with cheap feed. It's always been that way and always will be. CS Wilson has it right I think.


kpb

[grassfarmer]

I do not agree that the opportunities are not, or will not be available to run cows cheaper. We talk about land ownership in this thread but I for one do not intend to buy any more land. I have enough capital tied up in land, the opportunities here now, and in the future, will be in accessing rental land either for grazing or growing feed on. Where you may say that you wouldn't rent your land out for less than $1 a day what about the guys growing hay for sale or grain for silage? I know for a fact that the feed I am buying this winter was delivered to me for less than the cost of production. I know others are prepared to take a loss because they are not prepared to do the work required to run cattle any longer. It is a supply and demand situation - if you have a quarter of weed infested grain land that you need to sell for silage and there are no competing feedlots within economic hauling distances you must discount it to sell it. Fair enough this might be different in an extreme drought year but as cattle numbers decline we will build a better buffer against this. Look at the age profile of those in Canadian agriculture plus the amount of land in central Alberta bought by hobby people or acreage owners and it is clear there is a lot more land here than people looking to actively work it either in crop or grass. This is certainly even more the case as you get away from the geographically small highway two corridor. This is why I came to Canada, you have a vast under utilised landbase.

[kpb]

grassfarmer, I agree that there will always be waste or ruined crops that the astute cattleman can use. That's always been the case, expensive land or not.

But what I am saying is that people I know will not rent their land out to grazers for the summer unless they get a buck a day. If they can't get that they'll either arrange to have it cut for hay or else just leave it. The reason is that a lot of people have been burned by bad renters, cattle are a huge pain for a lot of owners (fencing, etc) and most of these guys would rather have the land sit idle then get just a little for it. And I can tell you that this situation will get worse, not better, as more acreage guys move in because they, for sure, do not want a herd of cows on their land when they can easily cut it for hay.

I think hay prices will continue to stay cheap and pasture prices will continue to stay expensive. It is, in fact, cheaper to buy the hay in and feed it during the summer than rent the grass for the pair. A lot of the guys who are selling hay don't worry about the price but they sure don't want any cows on their 80 acres.

It really isn't a case of supply and demand fixing the price in central Alberta. It is really all about what a wealthy retired farmer who doesn't care about return wants on his land and, also, what a rich city guy wants on his acreage. And I am sure that neither wants a herd of someone else's--or their own--cows. And that situation is going to get worse, not better. I think you'll find yourself paying more and more for summer rent, not less, as more acreage people move in who do not need your money and do not want your cows.

In terms of Canada's land base, you are right but you surely aren't referring to all parts of our country. I mean you wouldn't want to run cows in Cochrane or Airdrie now but people did once upon a time. Yes this is a big country so why not move where you can have a good sized ranch, put some dough in the bank and not have to rely on the largesse of some acreage owner to graze your cows? There's a whole lot of that kind of land in Canada and it sure works for cows a lot better than trying to make it work where both you and I are trying to right now.

Just my thoughts, grassfarmer, I live in the corridor too and it bothers me lots when I see what's going on around me. But at some point both of us are going to have to stop trying to fit round pegs into square holes.

kpb

[grassfarmer]

Fair enough kpb we aren't miles apart in this argument. I have never paid to summer graze my cows on someone elses land during the summer and don't intend to. Best place for them is at home on intensively managed pastures with all their winter feed,and possibly some opportunity fall grazing bought in. All we are saying is that guys aren't prepared to take a "poor" price for renting out summer pasture but they will do it happily through their hay and grain crops.

There are opportunities for skilled grazers though - I wouldn't offer to pay a $ a day but I might look at a quarter, calculate a price that would pencil under my management and offer a $ sum to the owner - 95% of them wouldn't realise I was getting a better deal than them. Further opportunities may arise from renters that are prepared to offer the landowner good conservation and habitat practises. This applies to non- farmer landowners particularily, as I'm sure you have read in Stockman grassfarmer.

I've already done the "move to cheaper land and put some dough in the bank deal" when I came to Canada - I would heartily recommend it to anyone thinking about it.

[rkaiser]

Grassfarmer says - "There are opportunities for skilled grazers though - I wouldn't offer to pay a $ a day but I might look at a quarter, calculate a price that would pencil under my management and offer a $ sum to the owner."

Did just that this summer grassfarmer, and despite a horribly dry mid summer we brought our cost down well under $1.00 per day. Don't have a final figure yet as we are now taking off some of the froze down regrowth that came back with our great August rains. Used the 1/4 in conjuntion with our own intensive 1/2 section with cattle moving about every 5 or six days. P.S. no chemical fertiliser used.

Yes KPB and Mr. Wilson, 2005 was not a bad year except for maybe the cull cow thing - but does that mean, Mr. Wilson, that we should all simply shut up and accept everthing? Hard to blame anyone for not standing up at an ABP meeting or challenging the SSGA and the CCA when some of the people who could possibly be helped by those challenges consistently call you a whiner.

[cswilson]

Well Mr. Kaiser get elected and change it-spouting off at everybody and anybody is getting kind of old. By the way what's story on tag 44 bull at Vermillion Test.

[rkaiser]

When I find a group that has my similar interests in the health of the family farm and support for those who help pay my bills - the cow calf folks -, I will likely run for some position. For now though, Mr. Wilson, you will just have to ignore my anoying posts - cause I ain't gonna shut up.

You would like one of the only bulls out at Vermillion that I don't personally own. LOL ----

44 belongs to some good freinds down at Pincher Creek who we set up with a herd of cows and the herd sire of 44. 48 also belongs to Mike and Cindy Drake. These two bulls were on a bit different feed regiment than our bulls and are carrying a bit more weight. Went through a yearling trial at Cattleland last year and saw a bit of grain over the summer as well. Ours saw 4 pounds of barley with their silage last winter and nothing but grass up til Sept 25th this fall.

That being said, 44 is a good looking animal, as is 48. Lots of depth of rib and plenty of testicle. Maybe a touch coarse for the show man type, but should be a beef producer. Maybe we can run into each other up at Vermillion one day, and you can hear me spoat off in person.

Chow Randy

[whiteface]

I wouldn't mind hearing you spout off in person, Randy, where the hell have you been anyway...jail? or just running around chasing jail bait. I know, I know, I'm too old and used up for you now...LOL!
I'm running around chasing rent checks today and making my husband one happy camper...
maybe I can get him to chase me later tonight...
put all that money in my bra and help keep the old girls up!
Waaay more info than any of you wanted but comic relief always worked for me when stress comes knocking. I appreciate all for their comments and keeping it civil. Even you Wilson, I got a chuckle out of your-toungue-in-cheek-but-still-to-the-point-no-backing-down posts with a sense of humor instead of an attitude. That kind of banter always works for me.
Grassfarmer, I appreciate also that you do see the point of view that us land wealthy, cash poor suckers are going through and I do know that you are able to find a couple of sources of quality feed for less money than most of us. I wish you all the power. I wasn't able to do it...rather capitalized on people wanting houses more than they wanted forage or cattle for that matter. Hope you all have a great day!

[Horse]

If you can rent a 1/4 and graze it for less than 1$/day I bet you wont get it next yr I dont let anyone in and ruin my grass by over grazing it but there are those that will take advantage whenever they can.

[cowman]

Grassfarmer: Sorry if I came across a bit arrogant...its one of my failings!
I understand you see things differently than me. It takes all kinds to make the world go around!
I actually believe guys like CsWilson have the best idea. Live in the sticks, run a tough operation...bottom line is they can produce calves cheaper than most of the rest of us?
My neighbor( a man who made his money in the construction business) claims he rented out his pasture for $65/acre. Good tame planted pasture seperated into 40 acre parcels for $65/acre. I think they were Weillor and Williams steers but not 100% sure.
So figure it out...640 acres...$41,600? Not bad for doing nothing...and spending nothing(not quite right of course as he has the cost of fence, taxes and water)?
I don't think anyone should put the cost of land and rising values into this equation? Land ownership and actual return on investment of the cattle enterprize should have nothing in common? I sure never bought that last quarter for 3K/acre with the thought cows were going to pay for it!
I sincerely doubt rent is going to go down in central Alberta? Too many boys with just too much money?

[grassfarmer]

You misunderstand me Horse - I could pay for renting a quarter at less than a $ a day by increasing the management not overgrazing it. Most of the land in these damper parts west of Highway 2 could produce twice as many AUDs per acre by simple management and fence moving. You could produce twice as many AUDs and still leave it in better shape, with more carry over and litter than "conventional" grazing.

[grassfarmer]

I can see feed and possibly rental rates going down near me Cowman. I see in the paper today a local 300 cow herd for sale. They were a pasture rental, feed buying outfit. My immediate area has now lost it's only feedlot and one of it's three feed buyers. Leaves me and the buffalo guy to pick up available feed grown in the area by old producers that have already sold their cows. It's kind of like we have our own little "captive market" for feed around here.
Interestingly the herd for sale were described as Jan-March calving, 15-1600lbs weaning 800lb calves.... maybe that's not the way to go afterall eh?

[cowman]

grassfarmer: Times change...situations change? In the mid ninties that 1500-1600 cow calved in Jan/Feb definitely paid...not so today? I doubt anyone would argue that?
Not sure if the smaller cow, Apr/May calf works today...but that is where we are? Sure is a lot easier?
Char/ Sim genetics replaced by Angus...that is just how it is?
Hey I'm no different than anyone else, I'll go where it seems to work?
The boy is all gung-ho on buying some black bulls and who am I to say that isn't the way to go? They are his cows and it is his decision.

[cswilson]

ohh I assumed they were all run under the same deal-I looked at him when the goat roping was on at the high school rodeo -I couldn't stay long I hate to miss a minute of nanny flipping lol.There was one red bull looked pretty good too but it was a crappy day out-I'll check them out when it's warm and sunny and they're feeling more like bulls.