Introduction
Agistment is a feeding option available when feed is short on the home property. It may be taken up when the economics of hand feeding (with associated labour involvement) are judged more expensive. Long-term returns, often overlooked in initial calculations, may favour good agistment over the maintenance feeding of stock during prolonged dry spells.
While it is a widely followed practice for persons to enter agistment agreements by a brief conversation and then a handshake, it is not a desirable practice. Such agreements, because they have not been put in writing, are usually uncertain as to the actual terms of the agreement and therefore carry a higher risk of:
1. the parties not achieving desired outcomes; and
2. a dispute arising between the parties.
This Primefact provides useful guidelines for farmers considering agisting their stock. In this Primefact the party seeking agistment for livestock is called the ‘licensee’, and the party having agistment land available is called the ‘licensor’.
The following common issues should be investigated by graziers considering agistment:
• inspection of agistment site
• cost of transport
• change in environment
• person in charge of stock
• stock-handling facilities
• period of agistment
• fees
• feasibility of agistment
• stock numbers
• insurance
• limitations on stock movements
• other benefits of agistment
• written agreements.
Inspection
When inspecting an area offered for agistment the following points are critical:
• type of feed and how long it will last;
• suitability of water for stock, and assurance of supply;
• dependability of fences and gates to confine stock;
• possibility of stock straying onto public roads. Cost of transport
Transport costs to and from the agistment site can be expensive and are likely to be the equivalent of at least 6 weeks of feeding costs. Longer hauls are even more expensive. Producers sometimes choose to sell their stock direct from the agistment property rather than transport them back home.
Change in environment
Where stock are moved from one environment into another, problems are bound to be encountered, both in the new environment and when stock are returned. Factors to be aware of include:
• change in pasture composition and therefore change in diet;
• presence of internal and external parasites;
• clostridial diseases and their influence on different age classes of livestock;
• diseases peculiar to a specific environment;
• infectious diseases that may affect stock on agistment or result in contagious diseases being returned to the home property;
• presence of burrs and weeds that may be returned to the home property, carried by stock either internally or on their coats.
Contact a veterinarian if livestock are to be moved to a different environment. Such precautions could well alleviate the unforeseen cost of stock losses due to any of the above factors. It is also recommended that you contact an agronomist who works in the area where you are considering agistment so that you can discuss possible weed problems.
Person in charge of stock
The stock owner seeking agistment for stock (the ‘licensee’), when discussing arrangements with the owner of the agistment property (the ‘licensor’) or the manager of the agistment property, should include in those discussions the role of the licensor (or property manager) in relation to the stock during the absence of the licensee. It is important to ascertain whether the licensor (or property manager) will assume the role of ‘person in charge of stock’ during the absence of the licensee, or whether the licensor (or property manager) will take on a lesser level of responsibility by carrying out only periodic checks on stock, with an undertaking to contact the licensee when attendance/attention to the stock is necessary. The ‘person in charge of stock’ has full responsibility under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979.
It is also necessary to check on whether assistance will be available from the licensor (or property manager) for necessary animal husbandry activities such as mustering of stock on agistment.
