The Custom Rate Guide is a summary from a mail survey which collected rates paid by Wisconsin farmers who hired custom work, custom operators and farmers who performed custom work, and machinery dealers who rented out equipment for field operations including manure services, tillage, planting, fertilizer & chemical application, harvest operations, and machinery rental. Non-irrigated cropland rent averaged $137.00 per acre in Wisconsin during 2019, an increase of $4.00 from 2017 according to the latest report released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Cash rent paid for pasture in Wisconsin averaged $40.00 per acre in 2019, unchanged from 2017. Rock County had the highest published average cash rent for non-irrigated cropland, at $217.00 per acre, followed by Lafayette County, at $215.00 per acre. Grant, Green and Columbia rounded out the top 5. The highest published pasture cash rent was $68.50 per acre in Lafayette County. Calumet followed at $62.50 per acre with Columbia and Waupaca both at $57.00 per acre. Full Report: Land Rental Values by County, WI Agriculture Statistics Services Ag Lease 101 helps both land owners and land operators learn about alternative lease arrangements and includes sample written lease agreements for several alternatives. Ag Lease 101 was created by and is maintained by the North Central Farm Management Extension Committee. The enterprise budget is a means to analyze the profitability of a particular enterprise. Basic spreadsheets for dairy, livestock, field crops, pasture, commercial and fresh market vegetables, allow a user to view an example budget, and/or enter their own farm numbers Benchmarks allow a producer to measure their production or financial performance against others of similar management or scale. Dairy Enterprise Budgets Dairy Sheep Enterprise Budget Dairy Goat Enterprise Budget WI Dairy Farm Ratio Benchmarking Tool 2020 Crop Budget-Analyzer 04-08-20 Wisconsin Custom Rate Guide Whole Farm Profit Management tools Pasture budgets Spreadsheets allow farms to compare their costs to an example farm budget for established pasture and pasture establishment, with round bales, or wrapped round bales. The budget includes sensitivity analysis and machinery expenses. Extension Beef Replacement Heifer Cost Spreadsheet (xls) 12-04-20 Extension Stocker Cattle Closeout Spreadsheet (xls) 11-01-20 Stocker Spreadsheet Instructional Video on YouTube Extension Herd Size Growth Evaluator (xls) 07-15-19 Extension Feedlot Closeout Spreadsheet (xls) 03-17-21 Extension Stocker Enterprise Budget (xls) 02-01-17 Extension Cow-Calf Enterprise Budget (xls) 11-21-19 Yardage Calculator (xls) 04-29-19 Extension Feedlot Enterprise Budget Spreadsheet(xls) updated 07-29-20 Grass Fed Enterprise Budget xls– courtesy of Jim Munsch Forage Inventory Tool – The forage inventory and needs tool helps farmers determine baled and ensiled forage inventories and forage needs and helps determine if there are shortages or surpluses of various forages. It is comprised of a set of complimentary spreadsheet tools that assist with estimating various baled forage inventories and tools to calculate silage inventories in commonly used storage structures. Forage needs are determined by entering in planned ration information for the herd through the forage feeding season. It also includes an intake estimator that will provide an estimated daily intake if a forage is provided free choice to animals. Feed Cost Comparison for Protein and Energy (xlsx) 11-02-18 The Feed Cost Comparison spreadsheet aids producers in comparing prices for multiple feedstuffs based on Crude Protein and TDN (energy). Corn is used as the benchmark energy feedstuff, and 44% Soybean Meal as the protein benchmark. Feeds are ranked by color coding by the spreadsheet relative to each other on prices based on user inputs, as Green (good $ value), Yellow (middle range) or Red (poorer $ value). It provides farmers with information for making informed decisions to formulate their most economical ration. Hay Corn Substitution Calculator for Beef Cow Winter Rations (xls) The Hay Corn Substitution Calculator aids in determining a comparative $ value of the TDN (energy) value of hay compared to a range of corn prices. It is used for determining if it is economical to substitute some hay feeding with corn for the beef cow calf herd. This can be of importance when hay supplies are short, hay prices are high, and / or corn prices are comparatively low. Pricing Standing Small Grains (xls) This Decision Aid is used to determine a fair price for buying or selling standing small grain for forage. Crop input expenses for growing the crop, harvest costs, and market value of the feed are input by the user to calculate price ranges for buying or selling. Pricing Standing Hay (xls) This Decision Aid is used to determine a fair price for buying or selling standing perennial forage crops. Crop input expenses for growing the crop, harvest costs, and market value of the feed are input by the user to calculate price ranges for buying or selling. Estimating Hay Usage Calculator (xls) spreadsheet helps estimate winter hay needs, a new version will be released later this year. Corn Silage Pricing Decision Aid (xls) The Corn Silage Pricing Decision Aid is used to help determine a fair price when buying or selling corn silage. Estimated yield per acre, differences in silage vs. Grain harvest costs, value of crop nutrients removed with silage vs. Grain harvest, and comparative feed market values (corn grain and poor quality hay / straw) are included in the calculations. Corn Silage Pricing App (android) Both the aAndroid and Apple version of the Corn Silage Pricing App are used to help determine a fair price when buying or selling corn silage. It’s based off the Corn Silage Pricing Decision Aid Excel spreadsheet. The app includes links to current corn and hay market prices and allows buyers and sellers to enter their own yield estimates and harvest costs. The difference in value of soil nutrients removed when harvesting silage versus corn for grain is also calculated helping sellers fine tune their standing value per acre. The app is free. Pricing Corn Silage (Apple iOS) Pricing Wet Corn App (android) Determining the value of wet shell corn is important to farmers when making marketing and management decisions like buying, selling, feeding, drying and storage. The app quickly calculates a value for wet shell corn based on kernel moisture and price for local dry shell corn (a direct link to local elevator dry corn bid prices is included with the app). The equivalent wet corn price is then calculated in both price per ton and price per bushel. Additional costs for drying and/or shelling can be evaluated entering those input costs under the expense tab. Pricing Standing Hay (android) Both the Android and Apple versions of this app provides easy access to current hay price information for the Midwest. The app quickly calculates a standing value per acre for each cutting, as well as the entire growing season, based on individual yield and harvest cost estimates. Pricing Standing Hay (Apple iOS) Freezer Beef Pricing Worksheet (xls) This spreadsheet is intended to help buyers and sellers determine sale prices for direct marketing wholes, haves, or quarters of grain fed beef animals. This spreadsheet can be utilized to calculate estimated returns for beef producers, as well as for beef producers to communicate with their buyers on the economics of purchasing beef direct from farm. Freezer Beef Pricing Worksheet YouTube Instructional Video UW Extension Holstein Steer Yardage Summary (pdf) This whitepaper presents survey results on the yardage costs associated with raising Holstein steers (overhead, labor, management, bedding, etc.) in Wisconsin. Yardage does not include feed, veterinary, or purchase costs for cattle. Yardage is often an overlooked aspect of raising steers, but important for operators to account for. UMN Beef Cow Ration Balancer (xls) recommend that you down load after it opens in the google docs view window before using rather than open in google docs. Beef Basis Risk Management Tools Virginia Cooperative Extension Budget Spreadsheets FINBIN FINBIN is one of the largest and most accessible sources of farm financial and production benchmark information in the world. FINBIN places detailed reports on whole farm, crop, and livestock financials at your fingertips. Established Pasture Budget with Round Bales Established Pasture Budget with Wrapped Round Bales Fresh market vegetable returns can vary, sometimes considerably, by region, farm, and marketing situation. These budgets are best used as a “side-by-side” comparison tool to analyze financial costs and benefits for producing different fresh market vegetables. Since there is no estimate of business overhead included in the budgets, users of the budgets should consider the expenses for office supplies, telephones, accounting, legal fees, business trips, income taxes, and liability insurance.
Custom rates
Land rental values
Agricultural leasing
Budgets and Benchmarks
Dairy
This enterprise budget is a means to analyze the profitability of a particular enterprise. This enterprise budget is intended to analyze a dairy budget, per cow over three levels of production. It includes a machinery and building cost calculator, feed cost calculator and sensitivity analysis.
The UW Center for Integrated Agriculture spreadsheet to help farmers make financial and management decisions about new or existing dairy sheep enterprises. It is applicable to most kinds and sizes of enterprises.
The UW Center for Integrated Agriculture spreadsheet to help farmers make financial and management decisions about new or existing dairy goat enterprises. It is applicable to most kinds and sizes of enterprises.
Compares dairy farm’s financial status with +500 dairy farms in the State of Wisconsin. Data is from the AgFA (Agriculture Financial Advisor) database: 2000-2008. Calculates 15 Financial measures. REQUIRES: Excel 2007.Field Crops
The 2020 Crop Budget Analyzer reflects updates to crop production inputs for corn, soybean, alfalfa, an small grains) including fertilizer, pesticide products and application, and (custom rates reflected in the 2017 Custom Rate Guide). Updates completed April 8, 2020.
The Wisconsin Custom Rate Guide is the result of a mail survey collected rates paid by farmers for custom work performed in 2017. The figures are based on reports by farmers who hired custom work, custom operators and farmers who performed custom work, and machinery dealers who rented out equipment. There were 707 reports completed. The report was released in March of 2018. Data is compiled by the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS), Wisconsin Field Office in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension.
The Compass Tools are free downloadable spreadsheets created at the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wisconsin-Madison. These tools help farmers actively manage for increased farm profits by helping them understand their cost of production, by product and by market channel. This enables farmers to make strategic decisions to adjust prices, reduce costs, shift market channel focus, reduce or drop unprofitable products, and expand production of their most profitable ventures.Livestock Worksheets
The Beef Replacement Heifer spreadsheet tool is designed to help producers calculate their cost of raising replacement heifers from weaning to calving. It calculates costs from weaning until the group of heifers calve into the cow-calf enterprise. It provides farmers with information for benchmarking and making informed management decisions for raising replacement heifers, and making decisions to retain ownership of calves versus purchasing replacements.
The Beef Stocker Closeout spreadsheet is designed to help producers who graze stocker calves (weaned calves on pasture) calculate their cost of production and determine profit or loss for each group of stocker calves. It is intended to be used after a group of calves is marketed to evaluate performance and profitability of that group. It provides farmers with information for benchmarking and making informed management decisions for the stocker enterprise.
The Herd Size Growth Evaluator spreadsheet is designed to help beef cow calf producers estimate herd size changes based upon heifer retention rate, purchase of replacements females, and herd culling rate. Users have the option to project future herd growth based upon percent of the herd, or on a per head basis. It provides farmers with information for making informed beef cow calf herd management decisions.
The Feedlot Closeout spreadsheet is designed to help producers calculate their cost of production and determine profit or loss for a group of cattle they have fed out, or backgrounded in a drylot management system. It is intended to be used after a group of calves is marketed to evaluate performance and profitability of that group. It provides farmers with information for benchmarking and making informed management decisions for the feedlot enterprise.
The Beef Stocker Enterprise spreadsheet is designed to help producers who graze stocker calves (weaned calves on pasture) to project their cost of production, profit or loss, and breakeven prices for stocker calves on a per head basis. It is intended to be used before a group of calves is purchased (or ownership retained) to budget for that group. It provides farmers with information for making informed management decisions for the stocker enterprise.
The Cow-Calf Enterprise spreadsheet is designed to help producers calculate profit or loss, both past actuals and future projections, for a beef cow calf enterprise. It is intended to be used for annual budgeting, and to project herd performance, profitability, and breakeven prices. It provides farmers with information for making informed management decisions for the cow calf enterprise.
The Yardage Calculator spreadsheet is used to calculate yardage costs for the feedlot enterprise. Users input information to calculate their overhead costs; which include equipment and facility leases, equipment and facility depreciation, labor, and related operational costs excluding feed and cattle values. It provides users with the feedlot’s yardage expense per head, per day for making informed decisions regarding feedlot management.
The Feedlot Enterprise spreadsheet is designed to help producers calculate profit or loss projections for a group of cattle they have on feed, or plan to purchase and place on feed on a per head basis. It is intended to be used before a group of calves is placed on feed (purchased or retained ownership) to project thier performance, profitability, and breakeven prices. It provides farmers with information for making informed management decisions for the feedlot enterprise.Feed Pricing Tools
Other Livestock Tools and Resources
A source for farm financial and production benchmark information, detailed reports on whole farm, crop, and livestock financials.Pasture
Vegetables and Alternatives
The landlord and tenant need to discuss improvements and repairs of the property before the lease begins. There is no right answer as to who should pay for what. A written lease detailing the responsibility of each party and agreeing to these items ahead of time will make the landlord-tenant relationship less troublesome.
Leases play an important role for over 22,600 farms in the state. Yet many farm landlords and tenants are unfamiliar with the components of a lease and the landlord/tenant relationship.
The Manure Value Calculator spreadsheet is available to calculate the value of manure nutrients.
Host Katie Wantoch and Simon Jette-Nantel, former Professor at UW-River Falls and Extension Farm Management Specialist, discuss whether a farmer should offer to rent his neighbor’s farm land and at what rental rate.
Host Katie Wantoch and Simon Jette Nantel, Professor at UW-River Falls and Extension Farm Management Specialist, discuss if a farmer should offer a lower rental rate per acre to the neighbor who is retiring from farming.
Determining a rental rate is not an exact science. Local demand and supply conditions, anticipated market conditions, and long-standing working relationships can have bearing on rental rate negotiations. Learn what factors to consider when setting a rental rate.
It is critical that landlords and renters spend time addressing the terms of the rental agreement before finalizing the agreement to prevent problems over the duration of the contract. Maintaining positive working relationships between landlords and renters is vital for long-term success. Learn what to include in a fair and equitable farm land lease.
Rental rates and lease agreement questions often arise in the fall. Landowners or renters are looking for a lease agreement template that they can plug their values into. Learn what’s important to include in lease agreements and how to create a robust, authentic lease agreement.
This report provides a statewide overview of agricultural land values across Wisconsin based on a statistical analysis of actual sales and now includes the weighted average price of agricultural land sold in Wisconsin.
The cash flow budget is a valuable planning tool for the farm manager. It enables the manager to know and plan borrowing needs and investment opportunities throughout the year. With a cash flow budget, the manager has an initial cash position for each time period. It can also serve as a communication tool to share with a lender to set up a line of credit, make capital investments, or perhaps discuss the reduction of debt.
