# Crop-Share Lease figures for upcoming spring Alfalfa



## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

Hey guys, a landowner would like to do a crop-share lease agreement with me. He was wanting to know what for percentage of hay sales income he could get but I really had no idea! I never did a crop-share lease agreement before. You can find info online but it really all pertains to row crops. Keep in mind that this is old corn ground, going to no-till alfalfa in the spring so I'll have some money in fertilizer, lime, seed, fuel, etc. What would be some ballpark percentages you think for farmer and landlord? Any help is appreciated!


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Most common here is 1/3--2/3. Landowner gets 1/3, tenant 2/3 and pays all expenses. Just remember, if it had corn on it before and it will grow anything at all, the landlord could easily make $175+ from the row crop farmers in the area.


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

PA what is Alfalfa land renting for in your area? It seems to reason that if land rents for $50/acre then you could pay a little more beings you are paying up on the back end instead of the frontend. What kind of yield would you expect?


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

haybaler that 1/3 does that include storage and sales or is that 1/3 left in the field. Most shares around here are 50/50 with landowner fertilizing and spraying and us baling.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

In my area, it is 1/3 landowner and 2/3 farmer with the farmer paying all expenses and labor with the hay on a wagon or truck for the landowner to unload. That would be for very good and level soils that has had some previous management program. Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Same here 1/3 to landowner, 2/3's to operator. Operator is responsible for getting bales off field while the landowner stacks, covers them or whatever and operator covers all fertilizer. Usually on a new stand I like to see em pay 1/3 of establishment costs as well especially if lime is needed.

In the long run if you can rent it at a reasonable price for at least five years, I prefer cash rent to sharecropping. Landowner's never seem to realize hay can only be made when the sun shines.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

Thanks guys for all of your good and quick advice! I couldn't really find anything online about it so I figured I'd fly it out to you guys and I'm sure glad I did! As far as my landowner goes, I don't expect him to do anything (except hold out his hand when I go to give him money). And I highly doubt he will put any money into lime, fertilizer, and seed. The whole sharecropping is a new avenue for me, I'd rather just rent it but he wants to do the sharecropping. Once soils thaw out, I'm going to do the soil samples. The previous guys who farmed it are known for leaving ground without hardly any fertility.

LaneFarms, to answer your question, alfalfa ground is around the 50/acre mark, like you said. I agree with what you say though as far as paying on the backend, it makes sense. I would appreciate seeing 6 ton/acre/year, but I doubt that will happen the first year at least.

Thanks again guys for all of your advice and comments!


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

50 bucks an acre?! Count your blessings, we can't even rent the poorest blow sand for that anymore. Big operator in the neighborhood just rented 175 acres with a 10 year lease, is going to install new pivots himself and get the wells up to snuff. Grows green beans and pickles, he paid $500/acre for it.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

mlappin said:


> 50 bucks an acre?! Count your blessings.


HAHAHA, absolutely! trust me though, there's corn and bean ground around here going for $200/acre. A guy just started renting 100 acres down the road for $175/ac


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Hey, if you think you can grow 6 ton alfalfa/acre, there is another schmuck out there that thinks it will grow 200 bu. corn.


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## LaneFarms (Apr 10, 2010)

PA if land rents for $50 and you are going to have to give him 1/3 share of 6 tons he better be doing something else other than just owning the land. On our bermuda grass I can easily have $75-100/ac/cutting in it in fertilize and weed control. If I had to do it all and give 1/3 to land owner I would have to get out. Do you think you would be better off offering a little more rent or maybe pay him per cutting on a set price per ton in the field.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Don't hold your breath for 6 tons/ac. That won't happen on the east coast and probably not in the midwest either. Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

NDVA HAYMAN said:


> Don't hold your breath for 6 tons/ac. That won't happen on the east coast and probably not in the midwest either. Mike


Not to argue here Mike, but it can be done in the midwest, just isn't easy. Keep fertility up, timely rains and timely mowing of each cutting. Of course with three horrible haymaking years in a row, I've felt lucky to get 5 and wasn't even close to six. Wet springs push the first cutting back, and while their is more physical volume, weight is down as a mature crop is already losing weight. Then once your behind the rest of the cuttings have to be pushed to get four or if not pushed then a person has to live with three cuttings. Add in the fact the last three years have been wet to very wet springs then once it quit raining it would quit a little too long before it'd start again and 5 starts to seem pretty good.

But yah I have to agree, don't _count_ on six, but it is a nice bonus when it happens.


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## Hayking (Jan 17, 2010)

on our alfalfa our rent ground costs 50 per acre and on our share ground the landowner pays for planting seed costs and keeps the alfalfa fertilized and then we sell there hay if we can and if we cant they do what they want with it. they get half of the hay and we get the other half.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Marty, I agree with you. It can be done but usually not likely unless you are under irragation or have the best land and get perfect weather. You and I know that the best land goes to corn and beans. Even though Pa. has some good soils, they are not like yours. It just will not make that much here. So you can't base your ROI on 6tons/ac alfalfa. They would be lucky to get 4 cuttings in Pa. Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

4 cuttings is standard here as well, can get five if you can keep to a 28 day cut schedule, but on that 28 day schedule, yield is reduced. If it's a large enough field to warrant forage testing, then the gross profit from the higher testing crop will offset the reduced yield. But most of my fields are small enough that even with good yields the volume brought off the field per cutting is still less than the larger dairies that buy strictly by RFV want to buy. I have ONE field that is 36 acres. Technically it's two fields that share a common endrow. Another 16 acres buts up to it, but because of property markers (railroad rails buried in the ground) it _could_ be called 52 acres but is still mowed, raked, and baled as two different fields. The common endrow where it passes by the fencerow that divides the 36 acres is just wide enough to get 2 1/2 passes with a 13' discbine, so if we were planting corn with our 16 row planter, it would definitely be considered 3 separate small fields. Takes as long to fold and unfold the planter as it does to plant 52 acres in three fields.

So while this ground would grow a 200 bushel corn crop with adequate rains, its not convenient at all to do so given the size of the row crop equipment. On the other hand standard row crops would completely fail on this ground in a dry year. Irrigation could be added but unless the land owners could be convinced to allow fencerows and property markers to be removed so a single pivot could be added, when the added cost of the irrigation is figured in it still pencils out best in the long run to leave it as hayground.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I rent some on 50-50.

I pay 100% of the seed but require a 5 yr contract to recoup my seed costs.

Split fertilizer 50-50.Both parties benifit from fertilizer and share in that expence.

This is for Lg Rd bales.

We could be looking at cash rents in $3-400 range.Alfalfa doesn't pencil out at the moment.But it sure did when corn was $2 and beans were $5.


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

Getting 4 cuttings on Alfalfa isn't hard, on a very wet year it is. But thanks again for more of the figures, going to do it for a 5-year contract. Now I just gotta chose what for alfalfa to put in...


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