• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

BMr, Jason, Greg . . .

M

Maple Leaf Angus

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,823
Location
Southern Ontario
What would it cost to set up a spread for 200-300 cows in your respective part of the country? Ontario is getting way overcrowded and way, way, way over-regulated.

I've had enough.
 
lanereality.com-nw Sask. listings. Therte are two parcels one is a section all fenced and cross fenced-house,shop etc it's listed at 349,000-pretty good outfit would graze 200 probably-five minutes from Provincial Park Gates too. There's a big parcel up here two i/4 deeded-4 sections lease for $175,000-I'd gladly kep the monster whitetasils under control up there for you lol. There's alot of ground up here for sale-pretty easy to stock with Alberta cattle if you want to custom graze.
 
lanereality.com-nw Sask. listings. Therte are two parcels one is a section all fenced and cross fenced-house,shop etc it's listed at 349,000-pretty good outfit would graze 200 probably-five minutes from Provincial Park Gates too. There's a big parcel up here two i/4 deeded-4 sections lease for $175,000-I'd gladly kep the monster whitetasils under control up there for you lol. There's alot of ground up here for sale-pretty easy to stock with Alberta cattle if you want to custom graze.
 
one albertan who is setting up out here now (over 8,000 acres so far) estimates his infrastructure cost will be ~$1,500/cow. depends on scale of course but we set up here 5 years ago and i think $1,500 would be fairly close. depends on whether you have to build a house, pens, fences, seed grass, etc. the opportunity to custom graze for albertans depends how far east you are but with hauling costs more albertans are looking for somebody to run cows on a year round basis; either custom or lease.
 
300 cows in my area (NE Sask) would need 5 - 6 acres each pair (max, most years would see you selling lots of hay) to keep them in grass (summer) and hay (winter). 1800 acres would be around $360,000, plus the cost of cattle and equipment. You could get away with less inital outlay by renting hay land, which is normally renting around $20/acre for productive land. Many guys combine a ranch operation with a small grain operation. It gets you straw for bedding and feed in the winter, with a little oats or barley to sell on the side. The land in my area grows oats well with minimum inputs.

Rod
 
Maple Leaf: Sask. is the best bet for affordable land; costs will vary substantially depending on what type of operation you wish to buy and the area of the province you wish to relocate to. Many have chosen the eastern or northern parts of the province as rainfall is more reliable and lots of purchasers have converted grain farms to cattle operations. As you might expect developed ranch's will run for more money. I realize that it is hard to get time to get away but you should contact a realtor and take a tour of areas of interest. I do know of operaters from Ont. and Ab. and even Europe that have sold their home operations and used their equity to purchase larger, more sustainable ranch/farm units than what was available in their home areas! There is a lot of land available as lots of people wish to either retire or have chosen to leave agriculture entirely.
 
First I think the other guys have it right, the north east areas have more land and a cheaper price then my area down south. Some Albertans have gotten a wake up call when they found out how dry it was this year and that it was pretty close to normal for us. That said it is a great place to ranch. My sister has a place for sale I will PM with some details when I can find out from her. It is just north of the Moose mountains in SE sask. 2 sections with a yard . it is half pasture and the other half is farmed but would make nice tame pastures.
 
Although we would LOVE to have you as a nieghbor...trying to buy land in Alberta thats affordable just probably isn't going to happen. Land prices have literally gone Beserk because of the Oil boom...I'd go for Sask.But still we'd be closest enough to be good neighbors :)
 
I'm about the farthest South Albertan here, I live in the dry part of the province.

Native grass needs 1/4 to 20 cows for a 4-5 month grazing season.

Land has been selling at $800 per acre or $128,000 per 1/4.

Add an acre of hay per cow unit, and if your lucky you can find a farmer that will rent his stubble fields for a couple months of fall pasture.

Some grass is coming up for rent at $30 / aum.

Buying a section of farmland, renting it out and renting grass is the cheapest option.

Still looking at 600K for a setup with water and a barn and a house.
 
Another good place to check land prices in Sask. is www.producer.com . I know some of those Lane realty listings in our area (west of Rod) have been on there for years because they are hoping for someone from a long ways away to come and pay more than the local market will bear.
Saskatchewan has lots of things going for it as a place to run cattle. Mainly land cheap enough it can pay for itself. Not something you see in many places in North America today. Of course, the guy selling it (probably a grain producer) might dispute that statement. Grain farmers are getting real discouraged.
I can't advise growing those oats so you have some straw. To do that brings on the evil I (iron). Grain producers are obviously willing to do it for less than the cost of production.
That's why the land is so cheap.
 
greybeard said:
I can't advise growing those oats so you have some straw. To do that brings on the evil I (iron). Grain producers are obviously willing to do it for less than the cost of production.
Click to expand...

<chuckle> evil I. Fortunately, we grow oats well enough that you can afford to grow it by having it custom sewed and combined. Usually inputs of $60/acre (including custom work) will net you 70 bushels/acre. Not so good when oats drops under $1.00/bushel, but not so bad when its up around $1.75.

Rod
 
Northern Rancher said:
I'm betting you've grown more 100 bushel oat crops than 70 bushel ones up in your country.
Click to expand...

A few years back, yup, but not so much anymore. 100 bushel crops take more inputs than we're willing to risk. I despise grain farming with a passion, but I've decided to partner with my father, and start an old-fashioned rotation utilizing forages. I think we'll be able to get our yields back up to that 100 bushel+ area again in a few years, all without massive inputs. The first couple years may be pricy, as chem fallow and continuous cropping in the area has reduced some micro-nutrients to unacceptable levels and we simply don't have the time to put micro-nutrients back into the soil with natural methods, so we'll have to broadcast them and work them in. We've also got some land that simply won't grow anything but alfalfa and grass. 80 years ago, when my family finally settled this area, they should have never tilled some of the soil and left it as is. My home quarter is a good example. Its like a textbook of differing soil types: sand ridge running down the middle, with a clay soil finger running into the southeast corner, moss in the north portion, and black soil in other areas. Trying to decide on a pasture mix is an adventure. Next time I seed grasses down, I'll be using an old western wheel drill and sewing it in 30 acre patches with the proper grasses in each patch.

Rod
 
The grain farmers around me just lick their lips-no chemicals or anything and been in pasture for 20 plus years-I had one suggest I should grow Canola heaven forbid. I just let a patch go back to grass oin its own-pretty interesting what takes place.
 
Man, you guys are blowing me away with your input. It sounds like there are places in this country where you might be able to pencil in figures and come out in the black.

Not in this part of the world with land in our area reaching $5000/ ac to grow 45 bu. soys at $5.50or 135 bu. corn at $2.50. I am not interested in grain farming any more. It takes a good 2 acres/pair/year. Do the math.

Still, cash croppers are almost killing each other for more land. It seems to be an acceptable form of insanity. It is a mystery as to how they do it because the markets don't justify the values and the gov't support is almost non-existant any more.

There was an item on the radio the other day about a widow who had 4 neighbours come to her door with offers to buy her out. Her husband had not even been buried yet. Maybe they were just concerned about her welfare. :evil:
 
Northern Rancher said:
I just let a patch go back to grass oin its own-pretty interesting what takes place.
Click to expand...

You and I had this discussion once last year I think. I wish we had some productive native grasses, but with years of heavy chemical use in this area, all we really have left is quack grass, and its just not productive. I've got a 30 acre pasture of tame grasses (meadow brome and crested wheat mix) that keep 60 pairs in chow for better than 2 months. I've got a 40 acre pasture that was timothy, but has mostly reverted to quackgrass, and I'm lucky to get 3 weeks grazing time out of it.

I've been meaning to take a picture of the neighbor's attempt at allowing land to revert back. After 7 years, its still nothing but thistle. I feel sorry for them poor devil cows. Worst of all, its decent land, but he only manages to carry 30 pairs for about a month on 155 acres.

Rod
 

Latest posts

Back
Top