How is Wheat Pasture Priced?
Four pricing systems are routinely used in establishing value of winter wheat pasture for grazing stocker cattle. The typical stocking rate for irrigated pasture would be an initial stocking rate of 400 pounds of beef per acre while dryland would be about 200 pounds of beef per acre. Many feedlot operators will secure thousands of acres of wheat pasture and sublease those acres to cattlemen on one of the following agreements. Many farmers prefer to sell season-long grazing by the acre. This shifts the risk of poor animal performance due to poor genetics, lack of precipitation or poor growing conditions from the farmer to the cattleman. The typical contract would charge $80 to $90 per irrigated acre for grazing from November 1 to March 1. Graze-out irrigated wheat would be charged at $100 to $150 per acre from November 1 to the first of May. Dryland pastures are priced below these figures. These costs would not include pasture care, mineral supplementation or any additional costs that m
