running cattle on shares

[camasp]

I am running cattle on my fathers ranch and have found that 60-40 is a common percentage to run on shares. Does that mean that when the calves are sold I,the cattle owner, get 60% of the check or do I get 40% of the check? My brother and I as well as my dad are doing the feeding and the work. The expenses are paid by the ranch.

 

[Silver]

If it was my place I would want 2/3. But if you are helping out then perhaps 60/40 is not a bad arrangement.

 

[Faster horses]

Usually it's the operator/caretaker of the cattle that gets 60% and the owner
of the cattle gets 40%. There are a lot of share cattle that are 70-30. It just depends on how
much the owner of the cattle does, I guess. Whatever works for both of you.
A 'good deal' means a good deal for both parties involved.

There is more to it than the split of the calves. How do you replace the dry
cows and who furnishes the bulls? Those answers can change the percentage.

Good luck!

 

[Wyoming Wind]

We lease 2 different bunches of cows but work our lease exactly the same way. The ranchers retain ownership of all cows; when culled they get that check. They suppy the bulls and so far have provided phenomenal bulls and more than needed too. One lease does not replace culled cows and we kinda work it as each year demands with our other lease---last year he gave us 20 bred 3 year olds to replace his old culls. The standard around here is the owner of the cows doesn't do any work with his cows. We provide all hay, vaccinations, etc and we get to market the calves the way we want. THEY get a third of 85% of the calf crop out of their cows. The remaining 15% is built in for deathloss or in the case of a fantastic year like we had last year with very little deathloss it becomes a bit of a bonus for us....if that makes sense. We have built in our contracts too regarding deathloss in cows. In one bunch 2 cows dying is the owners loss. Above that we have to pay the value of the cows. It's a great deal for folks like us who are trying to build up a herd of our own by keeping great females from our leases programs. Our first year we kept 30 replacement calves. This year we were able to keep 75. We eventually will phase out our leases. And on a year like this when we could never even think about affording to buy bred heifers/cows, a lease program is the way to go if the cow owners have good cattle.
Do you pay a lease on the land to run cattle on???? We do...i'd say if you get to run someone else's cattle on land that you don't have to pay a lease on it is way fairer for 60% to the owner of the cows and 40% to you. Otherwise, like I said our setup is the standard around here.

 

[tls]

We are running a family operation. Where Mom owns the land and the cattle. She pays for feed, vet bill, replacement cows, bulls and she gets the money from cull cows/ bulls. The son takes care of all the cattle, feeds the calves at weaning until they are sold. He puts up the hay that is on her land. He uses his equipment to do so. Any thoughts on shares for this operation. We have been doing 70/30 Mom 70 and son 30.
We need some advise on this

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

A few years ago I heard of a fellow putting cows out on share where he took $150/head and the person running the cows sold the culls and put hfrs back in the herd to maintain the numbers. after 10 years the owner still had a herd of cows not culls and the person running the cows could do his own management for calving time our retaining owner ship to background.

 

[Mountain Cowgirl]

Sharing can be whatever the two or more parties agree on. I grew up on a ranch with shared arrangements with other relatives that also were ranchers. It was great because one year the drought in Texas brought hardships and cattle prices were low and hay was high so one of my great uncles shipped his best pregnant brood cows up to our irrigated Colorado ranch. We culled to make room and once weaned, we kept most of the calves that paid for feed and hauling and some profit and he then came up and hauled the brood cows and a few heifers back to Texas. He was able to keep his registered brood cows and a few replacement heifers this way and better than taking a big loss feeding them. A small profit was better than a loss. Some years we traded hay for cattle culled by other relatives that didn't have the high yield hay producing capabilities we had.

Living in the mountain of Eastern Oregon many years ago by myself, I ran several head of steers on an allotment in trade for my labor keeping an eye on a rancher's herd and repairing range fence. I traded a good friend, free pasture for the use of her cow horse. She had more horses than pasture. It was a win-win for both because all I was out was the cost of buying day-old half breed beef/dairy calves and the cost of keeping dairy goats for milk to feed them so the following fall I had a small investment, but a lot of work in 20 or so head of steers that brought a nice price from the feedlot buyers.

Trades can be a win win for both parties, but I would suggest penciling it out.