Maintaining profitability in 2009

Let’s face it. We’ve probably all felt a pinch here or there from the current economic circumstances.

But, there’s more we can do about it than sit back, brace ourselves and hope for the best on this roller coaster ride. After all, if you’ve been in the cattle business for any length of time, you’ve probably seen a similar cycle before.

What’s really affecting your profitability?

Agweek recently reported the main industry concern stated by the North Dakota State University Extension Service is the high input costs for the cow-calf sector, which are still not being relieved by market prices.

You’ve probably heard that production costs have risen to more than $500 per cow. In fact, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service’s most recent report suggested producers are spending $590.33 just to maintain each breeding cow in their herd.

What is suggested to combat the imbalance?

Really think about ranch expenses you might be able to cut back on that won’t necessarily impact your production. Some examples?

1. Culling rate. You might want to think about keeping some of your older, still-producing cows in the herd a little longer to lower replacement costs.
2. Feed. Think out of the box a bit to find options that might be less expensive, like CRP grazing land that might be available or creating your own feed ration.
3. Weaning ratio. According to NDSU, only 20 to 40 percent of herds in the U.S. actually achieve the goal of 90 to 95 percent weaned calf crops.

Now, how will your cattle records help keep you in the black in 2009?

Well, if your record keeping system has reporting features, you should learn to utilize those to give you the information you need to make some of these decisions we’ve talked about. After all, you’re already recording the information – you might as well put it in a report format where it will be beneficial for you.

Some examples include cow reports that list each cow, her age, number of calves produced, and maybe palpation status and calving intervals for the past couple of breeding seasons. Another one might include a calf weaning report, with details on average weaning weights. Death loss reports are beneficial as well.

Just taking the time to really dig in to the reporting capabilities of your cattle record keeping system could help you remain profitable in 2009.

If you use CattleMax, or you’re interested in it, you can get a head start on learning advanced reporting features with the upcoming “Utilizing Reports in CattleMax CS to Make Better Decisions” online workshop, scheduled for June 18th and June 23rd. Register here.