Air May 15, 2002

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. Rain over the weekend, and even last week, has certainly been welcome. Everything that goes with that rain isn’t very welcome, but I guess we can’t pick or choose.

While I was gone this year’s bluestem pasture report was released by the Kansas Ag Statistics Service. I would like to point out that this is one of many reports that are being threatened by the ax of the states current budget woes. If you find that this report, along with custom rates, land values and many of the other ag reports that are regularly released, are of value to you, I would encourage you to let your legislators know how you feel. On to rental rates. Contrary to popular belief, rental rates of ag land are not tied to commodity prices or cattle prices. They are tied to land value. And as the value of this bluestem pasture continues to rise, the average rental rates will continue to rise. Average price for bluestem pasture per acre for the season for 2002 is $16.90, which is a 60 cents per acre increase over last year, bringing the rate back up to where it was in 1998 which is the highest on record. On a per pair basis, my preferred method of renting pastures, the rate was $107.80 per pair. This was just under a $4 per pair increase. Pasture condition was only rated at 62% of normal, which is the lowest that I can ever remember it. This makes the fact that acres of grass guaranteed per cow calf pair was up only ¼ of an acre from 7.2 to 7.4 acres per pair. If you are double stocking yearlings, the average rate for those weighing under 700 pounds was $52.30 and for over 700 pounds it was $59.60 per head. Guaranteed acres per head was up slightly to 2.8 acres for those under 700 pounds and 3.6 acres for those over 700. I guess I am comfortable with these stocking rates IF the cattle are off by the 15th of July. Well, while averages are nice, I often like to look at the range of prices reported. There are many things that you can not take into account very easily with averages so looking at the ranges can tell you in a hurry where you are. In the northern zone, the range of prices for a cow with spring calf was from $48 to $130 per pair for the season. With the average being about $106 or 107, there obviously weren’t very many reports down in that $48 range. Well, that’s a quick over view, if you want to see a full copy it’s on the world wide web or give me a call and I’ll mail it out to you!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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