[DIGGER]

Hi There,

I have 3 acres of grazing land and have had a few enquiries from people who would like to graze sheep, cattle or horses on it.

What would be a reasonable rental charge ?

Regards,

Digger.

[mab]

I probably couldn't even guess, but i'm sure it would depend on where it is (where in the country, south/north facing slope, and accessibility); how good it is (good trimmed grass/ weedy / boggy bits /overgrow, etc); and the type/condition of fencing.

mab

[Beewyched]

Accessibility, any shelter AND does it have a water supply?

[Anke]

I wouldn't let an yhorses into my land - they will ruin the pasture quite quickly. Same, be careful with cattle, but if you agree on a date for when they have to be in their winter quarters it should be ok.

[hughesy]

Agree about horses, they will ruin the land in no time. I've found that horsey people don't seem to give a s**t either when they're renting. If you do let your land to horses you need to clearly specify what their responsibilities are eg topping weeds, removing horseshit etc.

[SallyintNorth]

Digger, your local livestock auction should be able to tell you what grass parks in your area are fetching this year.

Around here it's between £30 and £100 / acre for watered, fenced grassland April - Oct, the difference depending mainly on grass quality and responsibility for maintaining fences and water supplies but also access and how many people want it!

[bazzais]

Horses wont trash your land if you have enough of it and its properly drained, they may trash gateways - but I leave that to my tractors personally. 

3 acres would be enough for one horse with no problems.

You could probably charge about £30 a month for 3 acres without being laughed at.

You'd probably get more if it was someone who had only one 'pet' horse or pony.

Baz

[daddymatty82]

horses wont trash the land one bit if its properly managed. out of the shetland sheep and my 1 pony the sheep make more of a mess on more of the land if its properly managed it will be fine but i would agree limit the use limit the area and make sure they know how to manage the land as im sure you don't want to be clearing up after them im looking for land for my pony and a few sheep and will top and fence the land myself so i know its done to my expectations fencing the land is a bonus but not a necessity as genuine people who will look after the land will do al sorts for it we pay for 7 acres that is solely our responsibility we have fenced and looked after it make our own hay and pay about 360 a year  thats just for a field all year round grazing we decide when to let off the land etc

[hughesy]

Maybe I've just had bad horses then. We used to let about 6 acres to people we knew by aquaintance. They kept between 2 and 4 horses on it at various times, never all the horses all the time. It was good pasture before the horses but it's not now. They never topped the weeds, harrowed or rolled as they agreed at the start and the nags have churned the place up like the somme during wet periods. It's not a problem as a good portion of the land is going to be planted with trees next winter and the rest will be used for pigs. If however I had wanted to let it again there would have been a fair bit of sorting out to do first. I'm sure there are many caring and responsible horse owners out there who would have looked after things better.
Oh by the way we charged them 500 quid for 11 month periods for the six acres with natural water(which they also made a right mess of) in two well fenced fields.