How come such a Big cow kill?

[ASRG]

Further more in case you think you make a lot of money on your pasture or hay:

Pasture/acre:
bush pasture $30/acre rent
improved pasture (conventional) $50
hay @3 tons/$60 ton $180
less costs (cutting, raking, baling, hauling,seeding/fert) ??? $120
Net hay $60?

If you can buy land for $1,000/acre at 3.5%, all of the above would work....or come close to it? At $2000/acre, none of the above would work.
When you get up to $3,000 or %$4,000/acre......I don't think anything will work....unless you're selling stuff in a baggie!

[Horse]

Allfarmer and Grass farmer I dont want to be too pushy but you both seem to be upbeat on this cow buisness I sure would like to see a set of numbers like asrg gust posted,, mabey we all are missing something here, I realize land is cheaper where you are but frieght is pretty costly isnt it.

[grassfarmer]

Horse, I don't see the commodity outlook being all
that exciting - running cows, making hay, feeding
200 days and dumping weaned calves in the fall run
doesn't attract me. I don't see that economies of scale
by going to 300 or beyond really help - if the margin
isn't there with a smaller number it won't be there
with a bigger number. To run 3 or 400 you need that
much more land so I don't see how you get ahead.

I'm upbeat on the cattle business the way we do it
though. Minimizing costs at every stage, adding value
at every stage, controlling the genetics from the
conception of the seed-stock right through to the
finished beef. Then direct marketing an in-demand
product to customers 2 hours from my farm.
I would estimate the current total supply of grass-fed
beef going into cities like Calgary is supplying
somewhere between 1-2% of the population so the
sky is the limit as far as potential growth goes. I don't
think there is a better opportunity in livestock
agriculture today than what we are doing but each to
their own.

[ASRG]

Horse: Those aren't my numbers....just putting out numbers that a lot of people are actually using.
I'm not nearly as efficient as grassfarmer, but better than the numbers I put up for an example.

[ASRG]

Actually....my numbers might be worse as I am on very expensive land!