Agist, feed or sell: comparing the options

When the feed budget shows a gap, you have three main choices. You can buy feed and keep the stock at home. You can send stock away on agistment (paying someone to graze them on their country). Or you can sell. Most farms use a mix.

Feed at home

Feeding keeps your numbers and your genetics. It costs cash now, and that cost grows the longer the dry lasts. Work out tonnes needed, the delivered price and the labour. Ask your nutritionist what ration keeps the stock in the condition you need.

Agist

Agistment can cost less than feeding, if you can find it. Costs usually include a rate per head per week, freight both ways, and checking the stock. Things to sort out first:

• A written agreement that covers the rate, who checks the stock, water, and what happens if the feed runs out there too.
• Animal health, such as drenching and any disease risk, with your vet.
• Distance, because freight and your own travel add up.

Agistment works best when you know it will rain at home before the agistment feed runs out. That is hard to know, so build in a plan B.

Sell

Selling turns feed into cash and lightens the load on the paddocks. The catch is restocking. When it rains, everyone wants stock and prices can be higher. So the real cost of selling is the gap between what you get now and what you might pay to buy back later, plus the lost production in between.

Sell the stock you'd least want to keep first, while they're still in good condition.

Compare them side by side

For each option, add up:

1. The cash cost or cash in now.
2. The cost over the feeding period.
3. What it might cost to rebuild later.

Our agist, feed or sell calculator does this for one mob at a time. Use your own quotes and your agent's price guide, not ours.

No option is right for every farm. A mix often works: sell the culls, agist the young stock and feed the core breeders. The numbers help you choose, and they give you something solid to show the bank.