Profitable pasture

PESHTIGO, Wis. — When doubling his land base three years ago, first-generation farmer Aaron Pape was looking for the best utilization of land to drive a profit. He found that niche in grazing other peoples’ heifers.

“With custom grazing, I’m separated from the ups and downs of conventional cattle markets,” Pape said. “I set a price with my grazing clients, and that’s what I get paid. It’s very predictable, and the cash flow is great.”

Pape shared the successes and defeats of his journey during his presentation, “Custom Heifer Dos and Don’ts,” Jan. 23 at the GrassWorks Grazing Conference in Wisconsin Dells. Pape learned from trial and error and advice from others in the industry how to run a successful custom heifer-raising business that has become a money-maker for his farm.

Pape runs Pape Family Pastures with his wife, Erin, and children, Nora and Levi. Pape grazes 250-300 custom dairy heifers on about 200 acres across four different sites consisting of 31, 42, 51 and 85 acres. Each farm is within a 30-minute radius of where the Papes live.

Custom heifer grazing is one of four enterprises the Papes offer along with grassfed beef, organic pastured chicken and pastured pork. Pape also works off the farm as a business instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

“We came to grazing because of the conservation benefits and stayed for the farm economics,” Pape said.

After five years of doing direct sales of beef, chicken and pork, Pape’s goals shifted to a desire to farm full time. To make that reality, scaling rapidly was a must. The Papes more than doubled their acreage in 2022, adding 95 acres of rental land.

Pape said custom grazing was a low capital expenditure expansion that allowed him to fully stock those additional farms with animals he did not have to purchase.

“It was a low financial risk,” Pape said. “I had no cattle loans. We get paid monthly, and there are not a lot of hidden costs with good margins to be had.”

The Papes take in heifers under 14 months old, with most falling between 6-12 months of age. They also house a small group of post-weaned calves. Heifers are sent home before breeding.

“I do not currently have facilities for breeding animals,” Pape said. “I’m open to running bulls but haven’t had the right opportunity for that yet.”

Pape has two custom heifer clients. One is a 120-cow dairy, and the other is a confinement custom heifer raiser. Pape said he enjoys the flexibility of having a client who also custom raises heifers.

“I get as many heifers as I want, when I want,” Pape said. “He is the one who gave me my start and took a chance on me.”

Heifers get dropped off in one of the corrals and are fence trained for a day before being released to pasture. Pape uses poly wire on the interior corral fence to train animals.

“They’re going to knock that poly wire down repeatedly,” he said. “I stand it back up, and eventually they get the point.”

Within 24 hours, heifers are ready to go on pasture.

“Don’t make the first paddock super tight,” Pape said. “Don’t push your luck.”

Pape said a single 32-inch-wire on interior fences is inadequate for maintaining control of heifers. He said heifers will test the wire when they get stressed. Therefore, he added a top wire, and now all interior fences contain 32-inch and 42-inch wires. Pape said he recommends using a double poly wire in tall grass, making the fence line easy to see.

Paddock moves are every 1-3 days depending on location. At the home farm, heifers are moved daily, whereas moves at rental properties occur every other day. Over the weekend, Pape likes to set animals up for three days’ worth of grass. Pape also feeds supplemental grain at about 4 pounds per head per day.

“We started at 2 pounds per day, but 4 pounds seems to be the sweet spot,” he said. “Heifers need energy to grow, so don’t be afraid to feed grain.”

Pape supplies the grain and passes that cost onto the client. Grain is fed in 55-gallon barrels cut in half and bolted together. He said they are easily moved from paddock to paddock. Pape provides his heifers with a luxurious amount of bunk space to make sure every animal can access feed. His benchmark is 24 inches per head.

Pape said feeding grain also allows him to stock more animals per acre. He feeds about 12% of a heifer’s dry matter needs through grain, enabling him to stock 12% more cattle. 

“You have to manage the grass so animals gain weight,” Pape said. “Keeping grass vegetative as much as possible is important to get good gains.”

During his talk, Pape addressed the required infrastructure necessary for custom-raising heifers on grass.

“You need good working facilities,” he said. “Broken gates and baler twine are not going to cut it. These are animals that have never seen grass before, and you need a place to hold them securely.”

To ensure sufficient water for his herd, Pape uses a 100-gallon poly tank equipped with a mega flow valve that can pump 50 gallons per minute. The system contains brass fittings instead of plastic to prevent breakage by heifers.

“Water systems need to be bulletproof,” Pape said. “That is especially critical for us because we don’t go to the rental farms every day, and we can’t risk animals being out of water.”

Pape said communication between himself and his clients is the glue that holds everything together.

“At the end of the day, this is a service business, and the client relationship is No. 1,” Pape said. “You have to work with people you can trust. This relationship requires a lot of trust from both parties.”

Pape frequently communicates with each client about everything from grass conditions to health issues.

“I send my clients pictures all the time,” he said. “I think people appreciate knowing their animals are being well tended to or learning about problems early on.”

Setting clear expectations and responsibilities is paramount to a good working relationship. Pape said rates are one key area to address along with payment frequency and terms. In Pape’s tiered payment structure, he charges more for larger animals and less for smaller ones. Deciding who pays for what, such as feed and drugs, should also be agreed upon. Pape said it is a good idea to have a written contract.

Although his first grazing season produced poor results, guidance from a client helped turn things around for Pape.

“We’re open to feedback and criticism from our client farms, and that’s part of the reason we’re still in business,” Pape said. “We made changes, and our performance improved. Now, we’re having to turn people away because we don’t have enough land.”