Sunday, May 11, 2008

By KENT DINNEBIER

A new agricultural industry is steadily gaining popularity with Iowa cattle producers.

A survey recently conducted by Iowa State University Extension attempted to determine how popular custom or contract grazing is becoming in Iowa.

"The idea was to find out how widespread those practices are and determine what fees and services are associated with the practice," Iowa State University Extension Livestock Field Specialist Joe Sellers explained.

Iowa State University Extension worked with Practical Farmers of Iowa on the survey and received a grant from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture to complete the study.

Carl Neifert, a retired livestock specialist with Iowa State, was hired to assist with the survey. He contacted 50 operations to gather information and conducted personal interviews with producers in southern Iowa and northern Missouri.

"Contract grazing occurs when somebody has the land and labor to take care of cattle, but doesn't have their own herd. So they take care of other people's cattle for a per head, per day fee," Sellers said. "A lot of the results were what we expected. There is a lot of variety in the method of doing this, so there is a lot of difference in the rates based on the services provided."

Still, Sellers said the survey was very timely because Iowa is steadily losing pasture ground to recreational uses and a higher numbers of acres being used to grow corn and soybeans.

"Some people are short on pasture ground and are looking for alternatives. Custom grazing is more widespread in other states. Producers in the Kansas foothills and Nebraska sand hills have had these types of arrangements for years, but it has not happened as much in this state until recently," Sellers said.
Therefore, Iowa State University Extension has been hosting educational meetings on contract grazing and will hold additional meetings this spring.

In addition, the results of the survey were presented earlier this year during the Iowa Cattlemen's Association Convention, the Practical Farmers of Iowa convention and at an Iowa Forage and Grasslands Conference.

All of the results from the survey are also available at www.iowabeefcenter.org.

The next step in promoting contract grazing in Iowa, Sellers said, will be to find ways to network land owners and cattle producers to encourage future arrangements.

"We will be working on that this summer. There is a lot of interest among younger individuals in doing this, so it is just a question of having the resources available. We want to look for people who could benefit from the use of their land. The people we surveyed are doing the most they can for their clients, so that is why we want to see if we can find more opportunities," Sellers said.