Preconditioning calves experiment

[denoginnizer]

I finally got my numbers for the calves I had preconditioned. I am posting as promissed. Hope this helps someone.

Total head weight in: 24,832 (517.30lbs)
Total weight out : 30,640 (638 lbs avg)
Total avg gain : 1.57 lbs per day
Total feed intake 39,944 lbs
Total feed cost (.072/lb)
Average daily consuption =9.52lbs/day/hd
Yardage total head days 3,672 @.50 per day
Net Total for (48)calve sale: 31,906

31,906 - 6945.27(yardage ,feed, medicines etc) = 24,960.73

 

[alabama]

How does that compair to how they would have sold on weigh in?

 

[MikeC]

I finally got my numbers for the calves I had preconditioned. I am posting as promissed. Hope this helps someone.

Total head weight in: 24,832 (517.30lbs)
Total weight out : 30,640 (638 lbs avg)
Total avg gain : 1.57 lbs per day
Total feed intake 39,944 lbs
Total feed cost (.072/lb)
Average daily consuption =9.52lbs/day/hd
Yardage total head days 3,672 @.50 per day
Net Total for (48)calve sale: 31,906

31,906 - 6945.27(yardage ,feed, medicines etc) = 24,960.73

So........if you bought these calves for $1.00 per pound you netted a grand total of $130.33 + the .50 cents per day/each yardage?

Not too shabby! Get your feed cost down and hope for better efficiency next time. I'd say you done good!

 

[novaman]

Average daily consuption =9.52lbs/day/hd

Is that total consumption per animal cuz that seems really low?

 

[Rod]

What was your average purchase price in lbs ? I averaged 1.35 yesterday. We're getting ours in and preconditioning and getting ready for the wheat fields. What types of calves did you buy? I only go black and char. or the smokey cross. They did the best for me last year as far as gains and sales prices. Not to be nosey, just good to see other peoples results. We're upping our numbers this year so I like getting other inputs.

 

[MikeC]

Average daily consuption =9.52lbs/day/hd

Is that total consumption per animal cuz that seems really low?

It's almost 2% of their bodyweight. Maybe more if hay was fed also.

 

[WORANCH]

I finally got my numbers for the calves I had preconditioned. I am posting as promissed. Hope this helps someone.

Total head weight in: 24,832 (517.30lbs)
Total weight out : 30,640 (638 lbs avg)
Total avg gain : 1.57 lbs per day
Total feed intake 39,944 lbs
Total feed cost (.072/lb)
Average daily consuption =9.52lbs/day/hd
Yardage total head days 3,672 @.50 per day
Net Total for (48)calve sale: 31,906

31,906 - 6945.27(yardage ,feed, medicines etc) = 24,960.73

So........if you bought these calves for $1.00 per pound you netted a grand total of $130.33 + the .50 cents per day/each yardage?

Not too shabby! Get your feed cost down and hope for better efficiency next time. I'd say you done good!

Looks like he lost money , but I might be missing something. If you had sold at 517lbs for 1.15 =28,538. And that is a low price .

500-550 lbs 122.00-136.00 (128.07); this is from are local sale .

 

[Aero]

Yardage total head days 3,672 @.50 per day

can someone explain this to me?

 

[denoginnizer]

These were my calves that I raised and took to a fellow to pre-condition. He kept/fed the calves until I sold them through a board sale.

 

[denoginnizer]

Yardage total head days 3,672 @.50 per day

can someone explain this to me?

That was part of the fellows pay to keep my calves on his place. 3672 total day for all the calves at 50 cents per day.

 

[denoginnizer]

How does that compair to how they would have sold on weigh in?

This I think is the most important part of the equation. I think I would of done just as well if I had sold them at the start.

 

[Susie David]

All this advanced mathematics has got me wondering what the point of this exercise was.
We average 2.5# daily gain on alfalfa. Did you make or loose money by doing this perconditioning?
What was the cost per pound of gain...bottom line, yardage and all the expenses.
Could help me understand what this is all about.
Thanks...Dave Mc

 

[cmjust0]

It appears as though he started with 24,832 lbs total live weight, and ended up with $24,960.73 for the sale.. Ignoring all the stuff in between the time they left his care and the time the money came in, that's $99.48/cwt...

If they would have brought less if they weren't preconditioned, he did good! If they would have brought that regardless, he took a risk and learned something in the process! Win-win, way I see it.

A couple of things do bother me about the numbers, though.... Some just don't jive with the others, if that makes sense..

For example, 3,672 "yardage head days" divided by 48 calves is 76.5 days total, per calf.. Half day struck me as odd... Now take the total feed, 39,944, divide that by the number of calves, 48, and then divide the result by the avg consumption/head/day, 9.52, and you get something like 87.4 days.. What am I missing?? How many days were they actually preconditioned??

 

[Aero]

All this advanced mathematics has got me wondering what the point of this exercise was.
We average 2.5# daily gain on alfalfa. Did you make or loose money by doing this perconditioning?
What was the cost per pound of gain...bottom line, yardage and all the expenses.
Could help me understand what this is all about.
Thanks...Dave Mc

i assume the experiment was to see how valuable preconditioning is to the people that buy his cattle...?

 

[Aero]

Ignoring all the stuff in between the time they left his care and the time the money came in, that's $99.48/cwt...

If they would have brought less if they weren't preconditioned, he did good! If they would have brought that regardless, he took a risk and learned something in the process! Win-win, way I see it.

i cant agree.

the bottom line figures tell the laerning part of this story.

on the way out he was paid $31906 for 30640 lb paying him $1.04/lb
if he would have sold the same calves at a lighter weight for the same price (usually higher for lighter calves), he would have been paid :

• 24832 lb * $1.04 = $25825.28

if there were no preconditioning costs, he would have done better with the heavier calves, but he had $6945.27 in expenses bringing what he actually made to $24960.73

• as best i can tell, selling younger calves for $25825.28 is much better than waiting ~75 days to get paid $24960.73.

receiving less money 2 1/2 months later is not coming out pretty well.

i commend denogin... for taking the chance to learn and if that lesson was worth the time and money lost, i say he broke even. if he only cares about income, it was a loss.[/list]

 

[Susie David]

Thanks...cleared the waters a bit.
DMc

 

[dun]

I'm no geewhiz epert when it comes to math but here goes. When we drop our steers off at the backgrounder a grader determines a base value of each calf based on the muscle, condition and the going rate at the salebarn. When we sell the calves from the backgrounder I add the costs of backgrounding, i.e yardage and feed, to the calves original assigned value and subtract that from what the steer actaully brings when sold. Over the years we've averages about $38 per head profit for 45-60 days of backgrounding.

dun

 

[cmjust0]

on the way out he was paid $31906 for 30640 lb paying him $1.04/lb
if he would have sold the same calves at a lighter weight for the same price (usually higher for lighter calves), he would have been paid :
24832 lb * $1.04 = $25825.28

Well, my initial math was wrong, as I calculated "weight/price=" instead of "price/weight=".. What he actually got was $100.5/CWT.. Sorry bout that.. :oops:

In any case, there was nothing in my post with which to be agreed or disagreed, as far as I can see.. :?: Though my math was slightly off, what I was said was that he hauled off 24,832lbs of cattle, and was eventually paid $24,960.73 for them... That's $100.5/CWT, unless I'm missing something..

I also said that, if he would have gotten LESS than that (CWT) had he taken them straight to sale instead of taking them to be preconditioned, then he did good -- which is mathematically correct.. I also said if he'd have gotten that or more by going directly to sale and skipping the preconditioner, well, then he took a risk and learned something... Can't see much room for dispute there either, unless you don't think he learned anything?

I understand where you're coming from, though, and to say that he'd have gotten $104/CWT for the lighter calves is probably accurate -- BUT it's still an assumption.. I don't know his market.. For all I know, the only reason they brought anything close to $104/CWT was because they were preconditioned.. Maybe they'd have brought $90/CWT at that size if they weren't preconditioned, which might mean that the lighter, non-preconditioned calves would have only brought $95/CWT... In that case, he definitely came out ahead..

I just didn't want to assume anything..

 

[preston39]

dun,

Curious. Why do you contract out backgrounding instead of doing it yourself? Aren't you sharing the +receipts with the backgrounder that you would have as a net? Or is it the feeder/buyer requirement?

 

[dun]

dun,

Curious. Why do you contract out backgrounding instead of doing it yourself? Aren't you sharing the +receipts with the backgrounder that you would have as a net? Or is it the feeder/buyer requirement?

We co-mingle with a bunch of other producers. That way we can sell several potloads at a time all sorted to consistant weights. Our cost of gain for this year was 42 cents a pound, last year 46 and with another putz it was 58, didn;t make much money that year.

dun