production costs

[DRB]

Try [email protected] he produces a production cost tracking and projection spreadsheet that will help a person plan yearly cost for a cattle operation...It may take some time to accurately fine tune the data for your operation, but I think it will help....It is designed for seedstock or commercial cattle operations...Watch these forums there are some very helpful and knowledgeable people responding daily

 

[Frankie]

frankie,
i run cross bred cattle, but have considered now for a couple of years going with a registered breed. which breed, i have not decided.
you made the comment, that you have been able to make more money with the registered cattle.
in your opinion, what is the smallest herd size that you would recommend in the registered cattle and be able to be profitable? just wondering from some others expericence with this. i dont know if you started off big or small into it, but would appreciate any advice you could give.
in the beginning, at least, AIing might not be a possibility.
the commments of others welcomed too.
and if i may, since you said you have angus, how good is the "new design" bull?
thanksjt

My first recommendation is that if you can't handle a strong AI program, choose a breed other than Angus. A good Angus bull will sell, especially if he has performance info and good EPDs, whether he's AI sired or not. But half your calf crop will be heifers. In consignment sales, pasture bred Angus heifers will be discounted several hundred dollars to an AI sired heifer. I don't believe you'll find that in some other breeds. There are some pretty good markets for straight bred Angus heifers, if you can find one. The OK Cattlemens Assn puts on a replacement female sale every fall. The high selling lots are usually straight bred Angus bred to low BW Angus bulls.

I don't think size of your herd is as important as the quality. We're not a large operation by any means and getting smaller every year. A lot of commercial calves have been selling right off their dam at $1 for 5-600 lbs.(which is considerably more than in a lot of past years). I can put $600 into a weaned bull calf for AI certs, registration, development, transportation, etc., and sell him for 3-4 times as much as he'd sell as a weaned calf. We've never been involved in the show business part of Angus, but there's a lot of money to be made there, too. And a small herd can do well if they work in that direction.

There are several New Design bulls available. We started using the first one we saw, B/R New Design 036 as a young bull, younger than we usually use a bull. He has been very good to us. We used some New Design 878 the last two years. Overall, I'm not as pleased with him as 036, but we'll continue to use him some. The 1407 calves seem to be doing well on performance tests, too. Frankly, I wait a long time to use a bull that's highly promoted by show operations. I may have erred in 1407's case; we'll see.

Hope this helped. If not, feel free to ask more questions. Or register and send me a Private Message (PM).

 

[dun]

I've noticed in this area that a lot of small herds, 10-20 cows, exhibit at the various fairs and farm fests. They can look just as big and impressive at those affairs as the really large producers. And most of the big guys don't bother with the little piddly exhibitions.

dun

 

[ELW]

Ruby
i think you may have missed a few things when you added the cost up.
i have a little over 800 head of AngusXBrangus on 1400 acres here in the middle of Florida. i dont count the cost of raising a cow i look at the cost of getting a calf to the sale barn. last year on 740 calves going to the sale barm it cost me $342.57 per calf. Thats everything from fence staples to gasoline. i have been in this business for over 30 years if u can do it for $100 per head i need to come to texas and see how you do it.

Ed

No one here has actually revealed what it cost to keep a cow. Or various breeds.

First I am assuming that the cow in question is being raised as inexpensively as possible. Not for show but just to breed back and produce calves every year.

A lot also depends on where you live, here in Texas we have to feed hay for a little less than 3 months. Our cows average 2 round bales per head. Since we grown our own hay the only cost is fertilizer and cutting and baling cost. Varies each year depending on rainfall and haven't figured it recently but guessiing around $25 per bale. So that is 2 bales per cow or $50 per cow. We also buy trace mineral salt blocks, not very often, don't know how much each cow consumes. So I will throw in $5 for salt. OK, eartags for flies, not here, don't use them. Let the egrets eat the flys. OK, tick control, no cost, brahmans don't have tick problems. Let's see, what else goes into keeping a cow. Hoof trimming, don't think so, that is what rocks are for. Oh yeah, the vet, ok they go when they are weaned heifers to be dehorned, branded, bangs shot. But that is a one time cost so can't really factor it over the life of the cow.
Ok, another $5 per head per year for vet. Palpation is a good idea. Maybe another $5 per year. Don't do it every year. Get rid of the ones that don't perform.

My cost to keep a cow per year breaks down to:

Feed .......$50
Salt........ $5
Vet......... $5
Pg check.. $5

Looks like total is $65, sounds to low so I will say $100 per year per head.

Hope this helps

 

[cherokeeruby]

Agree with you. The cost of each calf is what is important. I think the original question was how much to keep a cow.

I tried to only include cost directly attributable to a cow. Of course there are lots of other costs but they vary so much.