# What is a typical rental agreement for Alfalfa ground?



## kfarm_EC_IL (Aug 5, 2008)

Have a new landlord that wants to a share of the 2nd and 3rd cutting of alfalfa. I plant and fertilize etc. Should this be a 4-5 year lease? Is the hay on shares but the baling a sperate charge for their share? Not sure what is fair to the landlord and I want to maintain the relationship. What are some typical share leases for hay? I have a 50-50 lease on another piece of ground as well as crop leases. Just wondering what is out there and what to watch out for. Thanks Mark


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

what about the first cutting?


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## kfarm_EC_IL (Aug 5, 2008)

They have horses and only want the better hay.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

_Looks like it could get complicated.__They only want the better hay,what if some gets rained on?What if it stays dry and you get 1 st cutting and dries up?_

_You could set a price for land per acre.You do all the work,seed,fertilize,bale.Pay them in hay for the land rent.You could price it on the rack or put in his barn.I presume this is sm sqrs?_


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## kfarm_EC_IL (Aug 5, 2008)

Hadn't thought of the that. Would be your opinion to get a lease the same number of years as the alfalfa stand is supposed to be good for? 4-5 yrs. Thanks for your input.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

kfarm_EC_IL said:


> Hadn't thought of the that. Would be your opinion to get a lease the same number of years as the alfalfa stand is supposed to be good for? 4-5 yrs. Thanks for your input.


If you are paying for the seed,fertilizer & lime.YES!That way you are spreading your seed,etc costs over life of stand.


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## dbergh (Jun 3, 2010)

We have not rented any hay ground for a number of years but when we did it was always 1/3 to the Landlord and 2/3 to the tenant We paid all direct costs of planting, raising and baling the hay and landlord paid ownership costs. I would definitely want to get a multi-year lease to help recover cost of establishing the crop. 
Lots of different ways to set up a rental arrangement, Cash or share crop both have their benefits and downsides. Just need to put a pencil to your costs & potential income and make sure you are not getting shorted while still being fair to the landlord. Might want to include something for rain damage in there as well.


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## Lazy J (Jul 18, 2008)

We have long term leases when we cash rent ground for hay production. All of our current leases are at least 4 years long and are strictly cash rent. Trying to do a share crop with hay is difficult if the landowner does not either use the hay or have storage. Unlike corn and soybeans you can't simply deliver the hay to the elevator and let the landowner make their own marketing decisions.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've done 1/3-2/3's before, can get to be a real pita. One guy would sell some of his first as he always thought he had plenty, then after the rain quit the rest of the cuttings would be light then he expected me to _give_ him enough to make it thru the winter and I could take what I gave him out of the next years production. Which in theory is fine except when the price is way up when he needs more and the price takes a real dump the next summer/winter. And of course he always wanted later cutting hay then I could take the same back in first cutting. He tried that a few years in a row and I told him to find somebody else to make his hay.

Just not worth messing with shares in my opinion. I've also had years when out of dumb luck all the cuttings off a field except one got washed.


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