Replacement Heifer Costs

[MikeC]

Cow Calf: Costs Of Heifer Development



At the 2006 Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle Conference, Missouri commercial cow-calf producer Mike Kasten presented costs of heifer development in his herd. He successfully uses the Show Me Select Heifer Development Program (SMS). Today, over 98% of his heifers are cycling at the time of their prebreeding exam. This has been achieved by getting his heifers to 65 to 70% of their mature body weight and in a good body condition score at the beginning of breeding season. Following is a summary of his heifer development cost for 2005 spring-born heifers. His costs to develop fall-born heifers usually average about $50 per head less. He noted that approximately 55% of his gross income now comes from heifer sales.



Item
Cost



Value of heifer at weaning
674.25

Grain, 2550 lbs
163.20

Forage (pasture and hay)
66.66

Veterinary and vaccines
11.48

Breeding fees (semen and synchronization)
32.87

Clean-up bull charge
6.27

Open heifer charge
18.72

Interest on heifer
38.81

Interest on feed
5.11

Labor
40.86

Sale expense
40.00

Total development cost
423.98

Overall costs (includes heifer value @ weaning)
1098.23

Average cost per day
1.08

 

[Aero]

so, at what age is the overall cost figured for? 18 months?

 

[MikeC]

so, at what age is the overall cost figured for? 18 months?

I took it as 2 year olds since these were 2005 spring born and it's 2007 spring now.

 

[Brandonm2]

He feeds 2550 lbs of grain per heifer???? Assuming 205 day wean, subtracting weaning value from final value, dividing that cost value by cost per day, and dividing those days into 2550 and I get 6.5 lbs per day for 392 days. I thought his pasture and forage costs (fertilizer, seed, tillage, bushogging, fence maintenance, hay, etc) at $66 were a little low (I probably can not go THAT low if you value a single roll bale at $25), but that feed total was WAAAYYY up there. No wonder 98% of the heifers are cycling!!

 

[ollie?]

Mike I have a friend looking for about a hundred , white, 3-N-1 fall calvers. If you know of any , pm me. They could be half blood blonds or such as that. No blacks.

 

[MikeC]

Mike I have a friend looking for about a hundred , white, 3-N-1 fall calvers. If you know of any , pm me. They could be half blood blonds or such as that. No blacks.

Wouldn't be too hard to put together a set like that. No black on the calves or un-borns?

Of course quality would depend on price. Ages?

 

[ollie?]

Mike I have a friend looking for about a hundred , white, 3-N-1 fall calvers. If you know of any , pm me. They could be half blood blonds or such as that. No blacks.

Wouldn't be too hard to put together a set like that. No black on the calves or un-borns?

Of course quality would depend on price. Ages?

Young cows. Price according to quality. If they're good , real good, he'll pay a pretty good price I think. It's not my money so I hate to say for sure. He isn't a black fan. He'd prefer reds on white or herfs or something like that. I think his pic would be Red angus/ charolais cows bred to hereford bulls.