COST OF PRODUCING BEEF IN KANSAS 9 
METHODS OF LEASING PASTURES 
Many of the cattle coming into the Flint Hills are dropped off for 
the summer pasture in transit to market from Texas and other 
southwestern States, and are received, cared for, and shipped out by 
the local renters or owners of the grass who in turn contract with 
the owner of the cattle at a stipulated sum per steer for the use of 
grass and for any services which the holder of grass may agree to 
furnish along with it. The terms of the grazing leases are not uni- 
form. In practically every lease a stated amount is paid for the 
privilege of grazing each steer as long as the owner wishes during the 
grazing season which on many leases ends October 15; but cattle may 
be removed from the pasture whenever the cattle owner wishes. 
The counting of the steers, responsibility for strayed or stolen cattle, 
the furnishing of salt, caring for fences, watering, and otherwise car- 
ing for the cattle, together with a statement of the area allotted per 
steer are details which vary from lease to lease. The charge for each 
steer grazed varies, depending upon which of the above services are 
to be performed by the party furnishing the grass. In 1921 the usual 
leasing rate for mature steers was $8 where the holder of the pasture 
assumed the responsibility for strays, furnished the salt, cared for 
the fences, took steers from the unloading station and returned them 
in the fall, and watered and otherwise looked after them. In 1922 
this rate was approximately $10, and in 1923 it was $9 per steer. 
As there is so wide a variety of lease terms under which cattle are 
grazed in the Flint Hills it was thought best when studying the ele- 
ments of cost to separate out and determine the cost of each item of 
expense whether furnished by the owner of the cattle or the owner of 
the pasture. This was done so that a comparative study could be 
made of these cost elements. Where a lease contract called for 
certain services to accompany the grass, such as furnishing salt and 
salting, riding fences, responsibility for missing steers and the like, 
the cost of each of these services was determined and the total de- 
ducted from the lease rate per steer to obtain the charge for grass. All 
expenses borne by the owner of cattle, in addition to the lease, were 
determined; these include interest on capital tied up in the cattle 
while they were held on grass and any services that he, as owner of 
the cattle, might have to furnish. This permits the cost of carrying 
cattle under every type of lease to be compared with those costs 
incurred by a pasture owner or holder who may use his pastures to 
graze his own cattle. 
GAINS AND PASTURE AND LABOR REQUIREMENTS OF PRODUCTION 
Thin aged steers with less grass per head than the fat aged steers 
made nearly twice the gain in weight; thin aged steers making 297 
pounds gain on 4.4 acres of grass (average of 1921, 1922, and 1923), and 
fat aged steers gaining only 162 pounds per season on 4.7 acres (average 
1921 and 1923). (Table 2.) On the other hand, the half-fat younger 
cattle showed a tendency to gain more than the thin young cattle. 
The more flesh the steers carried, when turned on grass, the greater 
was the pasture allotted to them. This of course, was done to hold 
the flesh the steers already had and to give them all the pasture 
needed to put them in killing condition in July and August, or 
before the general movement of grass cattle started toward market. 
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