My family has some land that an adjoining owner is interested in either purchasing or leasing to run cattle on (basically tax cows). We're not interesting in selling at this time, but would be willing to lease it for a defined term. The one complicating issue is the fences on some of it are shot, and would need to be replaced. The portion he's currently interested in is about 50 acres, and roughly 2,000 linear feet of fencing would be needed. We don't want to have to pay for that right now, as when it sells, it's likely going to sell to someone who will carve it up into large acreage estate lots, and they won't care about the cattle fencing either. What we are considering doing is a term lease, where if we decide to sell during the primary term, we would pro-rate back to the tenant their cost of the lease (if the primary term is 5 years, and we decide to sell after two years, he would get back 3/5 of the cost to fence it). After the primary term, we would renew the lease, and the reimbursement would be $0. We're also willing to offer a right of first refusal when it comes time to sell the place.
The question is, if you're the prospective tenant, how long of a term would you need to feel like you got your cost back from the fencing to make it worthwhile to do the deal?

No answer to this but an alternative solution is use Halter or another gps/shock collar system designed for cattle. This allows fencing to not be needed and great for pasture rotating.

montanagriz said:

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No answer to this but an alternative solution is use Halter or another gps/shock collar system designed for cattle. This allows fencing to not be needed and great for pasture rotating.

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and my guess it'll be far more expensive than just fixing the fence

Four wire electric fence.

Does the land currently have an Ag Exemption?

If you own the land, pay for the fencing and let him provide the labor. 2,000 ft of new 5 wire barbed wire is only about 8 rolls and the number of posts needed will not be a huge expense. If he's capable and willing, offer to pay him back a certain amount for the labor within an agreed time frame if it sells.

More importantly, never give anyone a right of first refusal on land you own. Too many potential problems to list. Life changes and can for either party. Your land, your decision now and in the future. I've seen a right of first refusal turn into a real problem for a neighbor recently.

Yes.

BQ_90 said:

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montanagriz said:

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No answer to this but an alternative solution is use Halter or another gps/shock collar system designed for cattle. This allows fencing to not be needed and great for pasture rotating.

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and my guess it'll be far more expensive than just fixing the fence

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No idea but I assume cheaper than building a fence because my neighbor in Kansas did it rather than build a fence between us. He bought the property south of me that has no fence. He talked about putting up a new fence and putting cows on it. I talk to him a couple months later and instead of installing a fence, he was going with halter. I imagine he ran the numbers because he earns his living with cattle, corn, and beans. Full time farmer in his 30s

Edit- I measured our property and it would be 550 yards of fencing, similar to op

To hav someone else build the fence would be ~$4-5 a foot, so you're looking at $8-10K, a that's not including any removal of existing fence/brush. For only 50 acres of grazing, that would be a long payback period I'd think. But if the other guy is willing, go for it.

The idea about pro-rating the fence cost into the lease terms makes sense.

Rough answer:

Fencing is going to run $7-$10k.

Assuming it is decent pasture ground, pasture lease would roughly be $15/acre/yr (This is highly variable depending on location) - $750/yr.

To make that math work, it would need to be a 10 year lease.

Again, very rough numbers.

On the Halter/E-fencing stuff, I don't think many people would consider that for exterior fencing. Works great as a replacement for temporary or cross-fencing though.

That's the other part of the problem: part of the property borders a county road. Having a good fence on that side is kind of important. We may end up not doing it because the deal won't pencil on his end. But it never hurts to ask.

HTownAg98 said:

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That's the other part of the problem: part of the property borders a county road. Having a good fence on that side is kind of important. We may end up not doing it because the deal won't pencil on his end. But it never hurts to ask.

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Yeah, that makes a traditional fence a necessity then. Nobody wants $4,000 cows getting run over!

montanagriz said:

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BQ_90 said:

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montanagriz said:

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No answer to this but an alternative solution is use Halter or another gps/shock collar system designed for cattle. This allows fencing to not be needed and great for pasture rotating.

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and my guess it'll be far more expensive than just fixing the fence

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No idea but I assume cheaper than building a fence because my neighbor in Kansas did it rather than build a fence between us. He bought the property south of me that has no fence. He talked about putting up a new fence and putting cows on it. I talk to him a couple months later and instead of installing a fence, he was going with halter. I imagine he ran the numbers because he earns his living with cattle, corn, and beans. Full time farmer in his 30s

Edit- I measured our property and it would be 550 yards of fencing, similar to op

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and they may work way out in the middle of nowhere. Also are you talking about cows with calves, because many of these collars will not fit a calf. Also if you're going to use virtual fencing for perimeter fence then you have to collar every cow. Most use is in place of interior cross fencing where you can train part of the herd to move. And again calves aren't collared.

Then some of these systems you have to have base stations, etc. also you have to have a pasture that is fenced well first to train them.

again i still bet it's cheaper to patch up 2000 feet of fence

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Zhcxb73qZ/

Came across my facebook feed since my phone spies on me. It cost 72 dollars a cow a year to use. They put up a small antenna on your property that communicates with the collars and your phone app.

They op needs to build 2000 ft of fence on 50acres of pasture. How many cows can you run on 50 acres at 72 dollars a cow vs building a new fence to be sold in a few years
Link for anyone reading that is curious. Im not affiliated, just heard of them from my Kansas neighbor.
https://www.halterhq.com/

HTownAg98 said:

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That's the other part of the problem: part of the property borders a county road. Having a good fence on that side is kind of important. We may end up not doing it because the deal won't pencil on his end. But it never hurts to ask.

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Just saw this, yeah it sounds like the math might be better for both parties to not do

What about a hay pasture out of thst 50 scres instead?