I made time and put a pencil to paper to calculate the cost of production for the 2022 calves. The year of drought had a big impact on feed stuff in my operation.
Cows on average ate a bale a month during the winter feeding period. Average bale cost was $81.43 average consumption was 3.5 % of body weight. That included waste and transportation costs for all feed stuffs.
I fed grass hay, corn stover,3 types of green feed, wheat straw and a 14% ration.
I used a bunch of wheat and oat straw for loose housing. There seemed to be a weather event every couple of days so I went through a lot of straw.
Total cost per cow $1897.75 call that $1900
I got a $270 per cow payment for drought assistance.
That dropped the cost of production to $1630.
But it seems the market is capped at about $1400 - $1500 for a 5 weight steer. Consider the heifer price and the picture looks worse. Those numbers are what the industry posts. You never know what you will actually get paid until you have that cheque in your hand.
Biggest drought in... well forever! Costs have doubled or tripled. Interest rates have tripled. Check out the price of tires for that tractor now, if they are available! The price of cattle is up maybe 10%. WTF
Smallest herd since 1988 and cattle numbers dropping like a rock. Statscan keeps pushing out numbers that make no sense to me and are not supported by observations of the world around me. There are a lot less cattle and producers out there. They keep showing producer and cattle numbers in Manitoba increasing?
The encouragement to keep on in the business is to pay 2 or 300 dollars below the cost of production?
I know a bunch of guys are thinking that my cost of production is way too high. They have trained their cows to eat recycled newsprint and mucilage glue left over from the Sunday school... and gain weight doing so! But my cows don't work that way. I'm making payments on the money I lost last year so that interest rate increase is a real concern. Looks like cattle sales won't pay much of that.
This looked like a time when the beef "industry" would stand behind the original producer and they should have. Instead of helping the cow - calf producer by paying a fair price for the product, they are busy deducting their added cost of transportation and feed from the cow - calf producer. Doing that while pocketing the increased profit from the price of meat in the stores.
$70 / hundred weight for cull cows matches what was paid in 1990. Even if you got a dollar a pound consider the inflation rate. That should be $1.65 / pound.
I haven't heard much from any of the groups that get paid to represent the "Producer".
The price of calves needed to double!
Cows on average ate a bale a month during the winter feeding period. Average bale cost was $81.43 average consumption was 3.5 % of body weight. That included waste and transportation costs for all feed stuffs.
I fed grass hay, corn stover,3 types of green feed, wheat straw and a 14% ration.
I used a bunch of wheat and oat straw for loose housing. There seemed to be a weather event every couple of days so I went through a lot of straw.
Total cost per cow $1897.75 call that $1900
I got a $270 per cow payment for drought assistance.
That dropped the cost of production to $1630.
But it seems the market is capped at about $1400 - $1500 for a 5 weight steer. Consider the heifer price and the picture looks worse. Those numbers are what the industry posts. You never know what you will actually get paid until you have that cheque in your hand.
Biggest drought in... well forever! Costs have doubled or tripled. Interest rates have tripled. Check out the price of tires for that tractor now, if they are available! The price of cattle is up maybe 10%. WTF
Smallest herd since 1988 and cattle numbers dropping like a rock. Statscan keeps pushing out numbers that make no sense to me and are not supported by observations of the world around me. There are a lot less cattle and producers out there. They keep showing producer and cattle numbers in Manitoba increasing?
The encouragement to keep on in the business is to pay 2 or 300 dollars below the cost of production?
I know a bunch of guys are thinking that my cost of production is way too high. They have trained their cows to eat recycled newsprint and mucilage glue left over from the Sunday school... and gain weight doing so! But my cows don't work that way. I'm making payments on the money I lost last year so that interest rate increase is a real concern. Looks like cattle sales won't pay much of that.
This looked like a time when the beef "industry" would stand behind the original producer and they should have. Instead of helping the cow - calf producer by paying a fair price for the product, they are busy deducting their added cost of transportation and feed from the cow - calf producer. Doing that while pocketing the increased profit from the price of meat in the stores.
$70 / hundred weight for cull cows matches what was paid in 1990. Even if you got a dollar a pound consider the inflation rate. That should be $1.65 / pound.
I haven't heard much from any of the groups that get paid to represent the "Producer".
The price of calves needed to double!
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