Caustic Burno":7qiadl0l said:
Looking at cost to maintain a cow per day.
With the increase cost of fuel, fencing, and fertilizer my preliminary numbers are looking like a 1.15 a day.
Old Belle is now costing 419.75 dollars versus 365 a year to maintain.
With current calf prices and production cost this is going to take sharp management of your calf crop to turn a profit.
This will make the push for higher weaning weights versus quality even greater.
There are several strategies that I am currently looking at to reduce inputs.
I have done the same thing at my end.
Caustic - the greatest cost to most of us is things like inputs.
Example - sick calf - one trip from the veterinarian and a consultation - plus a couple of drugs - you now are in the negative zone - in my area the calf gets one day to shape up or it usually is gone. Profit is gone. Toss that calf - even if you give it away or kill it - you are money ahead.
Anyone keeping and doctoring a sick calf for a week has a fine heart but does not run a calculator very well.
Example - need to cut a calf out. Worse if it is your "best cow". Assisted a neighbour in a problem recently - called the veterinarian - bill for a calf cut out - just over 350 bucks. Decided to not cut the calf out. Fed the cow to the coyotes for 35 cents. Best cow or not, there are a lot of good cows out there.
Example - bottle calves. Time you are finished the calf usually has 2 bags of replacer - often some medication and perhaps one visit from the veterinarian. We no longer keep them - and most here will not buy them - so we give them away if no one will buy them - cheaper in the long run.
Example - grain costs are up. We are going to straight hay and grass - I plan to skip the grain issue completely unless it comes here for free. We pretty much did that last winter and the cows managed just fine.
Example - fertilizer is up and so is fuel. We now winter pasture our cattle on the summer pasture or grain land. The ground is frozen, the snow is deep and I no longer have to spread manure in the spring. Used to spend a lot of money spreading manure - now I spend zero. Combining this with a zero straw purchase and forcing cattle to bed on waste hay has actually not only saved us money - it makes us money. I now no longer worry about waste hay - the pencil proved our method works for us.
Example - vaccination programs - do not do the same thing evry year after year after year - actually have a veterinarian herd health check - it may save - no - it WILL save you money in the long run.
In the end, our cattle live and reproduce at only a feed/grass cost to us or they are gone.
I am not a rocket scientist - Aaron does this already and I am simply copying him - he also runs Herfs. This spring we are putting them in the willows - they will kill them and save me thousands that I would have spent in land clearing. It will take a couple of extra years to clear that land but it will not cost me 10 grand to do it.
We will never allow a downer cow to stay down more than a day because invariably it is simply an additional cost to us. Get up or I shoot you.
Our cows stay healthy or we dispose of them - sell or shoot.
Sounds heartless, but we have to feed or supplement hay for nearly 7 1/2 to 8 months of the year. They get sick we shoot them if we cannot help them real fast.
Live and pay your way - or get sick and we shoot you - it has reduced our costs dramatically and this past year we finally hit the black after 4 years of straight losses.
Folks will be divided into two camps - those in it for the business and those in it because they need a place to spend money. I do not have money, so you can tell where I am situated.
Fortunately our genetics have been designed for this over the past 75 years or so. Too bad I was forced into near liquidation during the tough years - but in fact I should have sold them all and rebought back in - I would actually have been money ahead. BUt the cows we have now are pretty much "push button producers" and it is truly rare to have a problem.
It is a business - there are few hardware store owners that will take on an extra job to subsidize filling the nuts and bolts section of the store. If we are to succeed we need to look at the business aspect of the process.
I did not learn that fast enough - but trust me it is there now. Unfortunately there are many who will not do this and it will cause them a great deal of hardship.
Outa' here.
Have a good one,
Bez>
