To reiterate some factors I made in my article final week. Cattle producers must act as enterprise managers and assess inventories of all assets (cows, calves, silage, feed grains and potential for winter grazing) to find out the most effective plan of action to maximise their revenue potential. This could embody contemplating how feed assets are finest used and varied advertising and marketing endpoints to maximise returns and seize the best attainable worth. If in case you have calves on stock and no wheat pasture to graze, this week we deal with the monetary alternative of turning these calves into yearlings with out winter grass.
Think about the next:
- Drought has resulted in low cattle inventories. The legal guidelines of provide and demand dictate that the long run worth of cattle will enhance. Feedlot placement information reveals extra mild weight calves happening feed. On the time of this writing, the futures board seems to be promising for yearlings within the spring of 2023. The futures contract for March is at $179/cwt and Might is at $185/cwt.
- This week the USDA Oklahoma Cattle Public sale Abstract tells us that 476 pound, Medium and Massive body, Muscle Rating 1 steer calves traded at a median of $184.07/cwt. This interprets to a complete worth per head of $876.
- A number of weeks in the past, my colleague, Dr. Dave Lalman put collectively a ration of roughly 1/3 Dry Distillers Grains, 1/3 rolled Corn and 1/3 chopped Wheat Hay. At August costs, this ration might be restrict fed at a fee of 13.5 kilos/day (as is) to 500 pound rising calves leading to an ADG of simply over 2 kilos/day at a price of achieve (COG) of $0.83/pound.
- I’ll use extra conservative figures (2 pound ADG and $0.85 COG) to work by the next calculations:
- Restrict feeding for 180 days till subsequent Might leading to 360 kilos of achieve at a price of $306 per head leading to an 836 pound yearling.
- This feed price added to the present $876 worth of the steer equals $1,182. To account for alternative price, financing, and potential loss of life loss, I’m elevating this worth by 10% leading to a breakeven worth of $1,300.
- Utilizing the present futures board value of $1.85 for Might predicts a price of (836 x $1.85) $1,546.
I encourage producers to verify on present costs of feedstuffs in your space. Take stock of your hay, silage, feed grains and potential for winter grazing. Handle your online business, do the maths, seek the advice of with a nutritionist and arrive at your personal estimation of the price of achieve. For instance, if we increase the COG to $1.30 within the instance above, the breakeven goes to $1479.
Additionally take into account feeding administration, as restrict feeding requires abilities and amenities comparable to:
- Ample bunk house to allow all calves to eat on the similar time.
- Pens sufficiently small so that every one calves come to the bunk to eat at feeding time.
- A scale or methodology of weighing out the each day feed.
- Roughage feeds obtainable for calves whereas working as much as a excessive focus, restrict fed weight loss plan.
- Time constraints and feeding abilities of the supervisor. This restrict feeding program works finest when calves are fed on the similar time every day.
- Enterprise administration ability to evaluate the financial limitations and alternatives.
- A plan for using or advertising and marketing of cattle following the restrict rising program.
Supply: Oklahoma State College
