North Dakota workers decided to see. They gathered cattle, separated calves from cows, weighed calves, sorted them three times, left them in drylot six hours, reweighed, turned them back with the cows for 20 minutes, and weighed again. There are several common methods to figure cost of leasing grazing land, often by the acre, head, or stocking weight. They arrive at a long-term average lease and then vary it each year as the price of calves varies, using the USDA Yearly Average Price Received for Calves. That way the leaser pays yearly in proportion to receipts.
More people are interested in leasing bulls, rather than owning.
Leases often are done on some flat dollar amount or some percentage of the bulls value, often with various adjustments. Again, cost varies directly with the price of calves. All groups were fed until they reached ultrasound-estimated backfat of 0.5 in. Short-grazed cattle gained more efficiently and had lower cost of production than calf feds, which is why feeders don't like calves. It was expected the long-grazed cattle would have been more efficient.