Ag. Econ. Report 7
Department of Agricultural Economics
Florida Cooperative Extenson Service
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
University of Florida, Gainesville
Charles L. Anderson
Charles L. Anderson and John Holt
TABLE OF
Ag. Econ. Report 7
Department of Agricultural Economics
Florida Cooperative Extenson Service
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
University of Florida, Gainesville
Charles L. Anderson
Charles L. Anderson and John Holt
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...
Determining the Calf Crop and Its Value.
Calculating Percent Calf Crop.
Determining Total Value of Calves.
Inventory Values...
Calculating Feed Costs..
Feed Cost Per Cow..
Feed Cost Per Pound of Beef.
Cwt. vs. Ton.....
Fertilizer With Different Analyses.
Stocking Rates...
Selling Wisely....
Calculating Shrinkage.
Figuring Trucking Costs..
Credit Sources...
Figuring Loan Costs..
Answers to Problems.
... 10
.. 11
....2
. 1 5
.. 1
... 11
... 12
... 13
... 15
... 17
.... 18
... 18
... 22
S.. 27
... 32
...... 34
Charles L. Anderson and John Holt
Any man would like to "be his own boss". If he can't own his
own ranch, at least he would like to become a manager. Any success-
ful manager sets certain goals for himself and his operation. For
example, he sets income goals based on the amount of money needed by
his family and required to run the ranch. He also sets production
goals for the number of calves he needs to produce on the ranch based
on proper pasture use.
To improve the ranch and to reach his goals, the manager has to
make many decisions. He has to decide how much money to borrow, how
many calves his ranch can produce and how and when to sell them. All
these decisions require some "figuring".
This publication was designed to be used as an instruction manual
to introduce vocational agricultural students and 4-H club members to
some management techniques. We show how to make many bf the calculations
which managers use to help them make their day to day decisions.
Because managing money is so important in operating a ranch or
managing a home, we have included a section on credit. This section
introduces the topic of where to get money and how to determine what it
The examples and problems are based on managing a beef cattle opera-
tion, but these same methods are used in managing any enterprise. Examples
are given in the text with a minimum explanation of why these approaches
to solving problems are used. The problems will show why these calcula-
tions are a necessary part of management. Answers to the problems are
provided in the last section.
DETERMINING THE CALF CROP AND ITS VALUE
The sale of calves is the major source of income on most ranches.
This section first shows how to calculate the percent calf crop and
then how to determine the total value of the calves sold.
Calculating Percent Calf Crop
The arithmetic involved in determining the percent calf crop is
very simple. You take the number of calves raised and divide this number
by the number of cows available for calving. For example, suppose there
are 700 calves raised, and 1000 cows were available for calving. You
would arrive at the percent calf crop as follows:
700 calves raised
700 calve raied.70 or 70% calf crop.
1000 cows available
Where most people make an error in calculating the percent calf crop
is in arriving at the number of cows that are available for calving. For
instance, if you had 950 cows and bred heifers in the herd at the begin-
ning of the year, and you pregnancy tested this herd and found 150 head
open and sold them, you would not use the remaining 800 head as the number
of cows available for calving. You would use the original 950 head, for
they were all exposed to the bull and were intended to be the brood herd.
You can see that if you used the 800 remaining cows and heifers, you
would overstate or calculate a higher percent calf crop than you actually
haJ. n'r inxs.'nce if you r.aied 600 head of calves this year, your
pericue calf crop would be:
600 calves raised
S.63 or 63% calf crop,
950 cows available
it w.o)Ui not be:
600 calves raised
600 calves raised -.75 or 75% calf crop.
800 cows available
On the other hand, if you had previously cut out some old cows for
sale and had kept them in an effort to fatten them before selling, you
would not include them as cows available for calving. True, you may
have exposed these cows to the bull in an effort to breed them so that
thea would fatten faster, but they were not intended for brood cows.
If your cow inventory looked like this:
A. 300 