The same with summer stockers... We usually went with gains. That means that you get paid per pound of gain. Lets say you sign a contract with the steer's owners that he'll pay you 50 cents per pound of gain. If he delivers 300 steers and leaves them for 90 days, and you manage 2lbs per day gains then those steers will have gained a total of 54,000 pounds which yields $27,000. It's a contract so market prices don't affect YOUR money made. The risk for the landowner is dead loss, drought (low protein grass), vet bills, and feed bills if your pasture can't handle the workload, etc. You have to have good enough pasture and be good enough at husbandry to get gains without spending much money.
Another way to do stockers is to contract for time (usually 90 days) but without gains listed. You simply let someone drop off their steers, keep them healthy, then return them for a set price.
And another way is to buy the steers yourself and sell them at the end of the season. Way more profit to be made this way but way more risk involved to the landowner.
What if your lease is structured that way?
