Leasing Land for Cattle Grazing

Are you wanting to expand your herd size but you are running out of pastureland?

Do you drive by abandoned fields, longingly wishing that your cattle could graze there?

 

 

Are those fields quickly turning back into woods?

Are your neighbors looking for a natural and cost-effective way to manage their overgrown fields?

Have you ever considered leasing pastureland??

Leasing pastureland can be a win-win for all parties involved.

As the leasee, it may be just the ticket you needed in order to buy those 10 new heifers or it may provide you with the additional pastureland you needed in order to allow your existing pastures time for grass regrowth.

Leasing those extra 20 acres may allow you to graze further into the fall season and help lighten the load a bit on your winter feed cost (hay!).

By allowing your cattle to graze their land, the lessor may be finding just the ticket they needed to help manage their fields.

 

 

 

In our neck of the woods, we have an abundance of abandoned potato fields that are quickly reverting back to woodlands and forests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some landowners, the cost of maintaining these fields as pastureland is just not worth it – financially and otherwise. These fields take more than just a little push mower to maintain.  Because of the woody elements in these fields, mowing has to be done with either a bush mower or a tractor with a mower attached.  This equipment costs money.  The fuel needed to run these machines costs money.  And for many, the time element and the physical labor required is the biggest obstacle of all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some people, though, buying an old potato farm and clearing it back into pastureland and putting a herd of cattle on it is a dream come true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mowing and maintenance aside, the landowner(s) may simply find pleasure in the animals themselves.  They may find the sight of cows grazing in their backfield pretty neat.  There is certainly something to be said for the calming affect of animals such as cows.  I often find myself escaping to the pasture to simply watch our cows.  Not for any particular purpose.  Being a wife and mom while running a farm can have it’s stressful and overwhelming moments.  Being with our herd reminds me of why we are doing this and recharges my batteries for another day or at least another hour. 😉

 

This year, we came to an agreement with our neighbors that worked for all parties involved.  We need additional pasture land to support our growing herd and they were more than happy to let us cows “mow” the field for them, even though they do have the equipment to mow it.

 

 

 

We walked away with an additional 20 acres of pasture land for our cattle to graze!   We agreed to fence the property and remove the fencing if at any time the lease situation was not working out.

 

 

 

I can’t tell you how many times our neighbors told us how much they enjoyed seeing cattle grazing on their property.  Coming from the West, where cattle are as abundant as black flies here in northern Maine, I get a kick out of how much people around here enjoy just seeing our cattle…..from the road, as they go on an evening summer drive.  I know I have said this in a previous post but I will say it again:  We used to be the only people on our road that didn’t have cattle;  now, we are the only ones on our road with cattle.  ha!

We hope that this is just the beginning of us being able to lease nearby land.  Like I said earlier in this post, we have a lot of abandoned or unused potato fields in our area, and we would love nothing more than to see our herd grazing on them.  It is hard to see these beautiful fields and pastures turn back into woods.  By allowing grazing on these fields, we hope that we can turn back the clock and restore these fields to their former glory.