Leasing or renting pasture or forage is commonplace for many livestock producers across the West and is often an integral part of an operation. While there are many types of arrangements used, establishing a fair and equitable agreement for both parties involved can be a challenge at times. The Forage Risk Analyzer (FRA) tool, from RightRisk.org, is a spreadsheet-based tool designed to help a single or multiple parties (up to six) understand the full value of everything involved in a potential lease and formulate a more fair and equitable agreement. The tool divides contributions into six resource categories including: land, livestock, housing, stored feed, labor, and machinery. The user can allocate estimated costs and returns for up to six lease participants, after entering the basic information into the tool; the tool generates an allocation summary and performs net return and risk analysis based on the information submitted.

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Machinery and equipment is often one of the largest expense categories for a farm or ranch operation. Many producers do not know their machinery and equipment cost for a given activity.The Machine Risk Calculator (MRC) from RightRisk.org can help producers estimate rates for custom filed operations and individual machinery costs. The tool will also estimate the risk sensitivity of those costs to changes in various factors. The MRC uses a comprehensive list of related expenses to calculate an overall cost, including expected life (years), repairs, depreciation, housing, insurance, taxes, and annual use (hours).

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