Agistment in Australia: Your Complete 2025 Guide to Agistment

What is agistment, where do I get started and how to navigate the agistment process in Australia?

Agistment is a common practice amongst Australian Graziers as a way to maintain healthy livestock and improve profitable farming practices. Agistment provides a solution to keeping valuable livestock alive and well during drought, temporarily rehousing livestock, and fattening animals ahead of sale.

This guide helps Australian graziers and agistors navigate the process of Agistment in 2025. Understanding agistment is essential for novice and seasoned graziers alike, it can help improve livestock yield, offer landowners a source of revenue and help bolster agricultural productivity for farmers.

In this guide, we discuss the process of Agistment and help guide both Graziers and Agistors through its benefits, fees, legalities and best practices.

What is Agistment?

Agistment Meaning: Agistment is the practice where a landowner (known as the Agistor) allows another farmer's livestock to graze on their property. This arrangement is formalized through an agreement detailing the duration and fees associated with the agistment. Unlike a lease, where a tenant has exclusive access to the land, the Agistor retains full possession of the property.

Agistment provides a financial benefit for landowners while offering livestock owners access to feed and land for their animals. This practice is a practical solution for farmers looking to fatten livestock before sale or to manage herd sizes temporarily.

Agistment Terminology

• Licensee/Grazier: The owner of the livestock who is seeking agistment.
• Licensor/Agistor: A landowner looking to make their property available for agistment.
• Agistment Agreement: A verbal or written agreement between the Grazier and the Agistor which details and defines the terms whereby the livestock can be grazed upon the landowner’s land. It will contain details on the type of livestock, the number of head, the agreed upon rate and duration of the agreement. An agistment agreement should clearly define the rights and responsibilities of both the landowner and the livestock owner.

Agistment in Australia: Pros and Cons

Agistment offers benefits to the livestock owner looking to provide their livestock with suitable feed and land, as well as to the landowners who may use agistment as a source of income or a way to improve pasture management.

Pros to Agistment for the Grazier:

• Access higher quality feed
• Provides a way for expanding herd size without purchasing additional land
• May be a cheaper alternative than buying feed for the livestock
• Allows the grazier to maintain and care for stock during drought or disaster periods

Cons to Agistment for the Grazier:

• Full responsibility for animal welfare but limited supervision
• Risks involved with change in diet, disease and weeds
• Costs of transportation
• Uncertainty of continuing access to land/short term arrangement

Pros to Agistment for the Landowner:

• Reliable income and cashflow opportunities
• No working capital required
• May continue living on the farm
• Provides a revenue source without losing access to the land
• May use livestock to improve pasture management

Cons to Agistment for the Landowner:

• Dispute with licensee
• Risk of non-payment of agistment fees
• Labour required

Understanding Agistment Laws (Australia)

Understanding the laws is important to understand your responsibilities as an Agistor and a Grazier. According to Business Queensland, it is important to have an understanding of the following key points:

Duty of Care

Both the animal owner and the property owner share legal responsibility for the well-being of the agisted animal. This encompasses ensuring access to sufficient food, clean water, veterinary services, and regular health monitoring.

Responsibilities

The agistment contract should explicitly outline the responsibilities of each party, including the provision of food and water, veterinary care, husbandry practices, routine health assessments, and maintenance of facilities.

Considerations for Care

When establishing care protocols, it’s important to take into account environmental factors, such as climate, as well as the specific needs of the animal, especially concerning age or any health issues.

Written Agreement

It is highly recommended to create a written agistment agreement. This document should detail all terms, roles, responsibilities, and specifics of care to ensure clarity, minimize disputes, and protect the welfare of the animal.

Navigating Agistment Agreements

Developing a clear agistment agreement between the grazier and the agistor is important to ensuring that any potential disputes are resolved and responsibilities are clearly defined.

A written agistment agreement is recommended and should clearly define the rights and responsibilities of both the landowner and livestock owner.

The Agistment Agreement NSW Guidelines, provides details on the key elements that should be included within your agistment agreement. Here are a few key elements:

• Duration of the agistment agreement
• Parties involved in the agreement
• Agistment fees and payment methods and schedule
• Description of livestock
• Areas of land use and any restrictions
• Termination conditions
• Stocking rates, any minimum and maximum herd size
• Responsibilities over animal welfare

Agistment Agreement Tempate and Sample

Understanding the details of an agistment contract is important for protecting both parties and ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations.

Using a template can be a helpful starting point, with many available online. However, it's important to customize these templates and have them reviewed by a legal professional to accurately represent your specific agistment circumstances.

Click Here for an example agistment agreement developed by NSW Government, Young Famer program.

Understanding the Duty of Care to Agisted Animals

When agisting an animal, it is important to understand that both the grazier and the agistor may have certain duties of care to the livestock. An agistment agreement will help delineate the duty of care of both parties involve in the agreement, and it is important to clearly define these roles and responsibilities.

Whether you’re agisting an animal on someone else's property or offering agistment on your own, it’s essential for both parties to clearly understand and agree on their responsibilities. Neglecting your duty of care could lead to harm for the animal and potential legal consequences for you. For this reason a well written agreement reduces the likelihood of dispute and protects both parties as well as the welfare of the animals.

What are Agistment Rates?

Agistment rates will vary widely based on location, livestock, and services offered. Typically, fees are expressed as a cost per head of livestock per week. In Australia, cattle and sheep agistment rates usually range from $4 to $12 per head per week, while full-board rates for horses can exceed $300 weekly.

As an example, at a standard agistment rate of $9 per head per week, a grazier with 150 head of cattle would incur a weekly total cost of $1,350.

Factors Influencing Agistment Rates

In Australia, agistment rates can vary widely depending on factors such as location, the type of livestock (e.g., cattle, sheep, or horses), and the services offered. Here are some key factors that may affect agistment costs.

• Pasture and resources Available: High quality pastures, sufficient water and infrastructure.
• Type of Livestock: Different livestock have different levels of care and food required and cost will vary for type of animal agisted.
• Herd Size: Agistment rates will often vary depending on the size the herd. Often for larger herd sizes, landowners are willing to accept a lower rate per head.
• Additional Services: Depending on the agistment agreement, additional services and responsibilities for the animal will incur a greater fee. As an example additional feeding or shearing and care may attract a higher rate or fee.
• General Suppy and Demand: Across Australia agistment costs will vary depending on availability and demand for agistment.

Agistment Cattle Rates

Cattle Agistment rates will vary based on location, herd size, acreage, and duration of the agistment agreement. In Australia, the average agistment cattle rate in 2025 was around $6.80 per head per week, with rates ranging from $3.50 to $12 per head weekly.

Lower rates often correspond to long-term contracts for larger herds, while higher rates typically reflect shorter contracts (less than 12 months) for smaller groups (less than 150 head).

Agistment Horse Rates

Horse agistment rates will vary largely on location, and services required. The Agistment horse rates in shared paddocks with other horses will range from around $30-$50 per week on average, while private paddocks can be slightly more expensive and range from $40-$70 per week

Keeping your horse within a full-board service will be more expensive at a rate of around $140-$300 per week.

Key Considerations Before Agisting

Assess the Land's Suitability

Before agisting your livestock, you should always ensure that you are comfortable with the property and that it provides a suitable source of feed and housing for your animals. Here are a few things to consider:

• Amount of feed available: Is there sufficient feed available across the property to last your animals for the duration of the agreement, or will you need to arrange supplementary feeding?
• Condition of the property: Is the property capable of holding your stock securely, what is the condition of the fences and gating of the property?
• Water Availability: Is there sufficient safe water to the property? What source of water is available on the property and what is the quality of this water?
• Stock Handling: Are there sufficient stock handling facilities (yards) available for you to unload and reload your livestock, as well as to perform routine management tasks like checking, injecting, or drenching the animals?

Consider Total Costs

It is important to factor in the total cost of agistment fees as well as any additional and unforeseen costs associated with the agreement. Consider what kind of running overhead costs you are expecting, do you need to travel and transport livestock, what other additional costs may be required?

Finding Agistment Near Me

Typically finding local agistment opportunities is done via word-of-mouth or community billboards, Farmshare provides a platform that connects Graziers with Agistors. We’re a free agistment matchmaking service created by farmers for farmers.

With Farmshare you can list your property for agistment and connect with graziers searching for a home for their cattle.

We're a local Australian group based in SEQ, dedicated to making the agistment process easy and efficient for everyone involved.