On the cost to keep a cow -

I had a nice message from a cattleman in Canada that quoted me the following from Manitoba Ag:

Manitoba Ag is saying for the 2009 year;
Cost to keep a $500.00-$550.00
This does not include:
depreciation of farm assets
loans
labour
To include that the cow needs $750.00 a year
This is for a Manitoba year where summer grazing is from May/June to October/November

One problem in the cattle business as in many other farming enterprises is that few producers really know their cost of production.

There used to a rule of thumb that it cost $1 per day to keep a cow.  I think with current prices and smaller operations like mine that cost would be closer to $1.50/day. This is an extremely important number to keep in mind when making decisions.

Back to my heifer: at $1.50/day it is then going to cost me $550. to see if this was a fluke or not. She is also taking up a cow slot in my limited operation.

I for one do not feel attached enough to this heifer to warrant spending $550 to give her a second chance.  She is not out of my T-21 bull but was out of a bred Hereford cow I bought from a jockey/broker. Sire is unknown.  She is going to corn and then hamburger so I can free up a slot to keep one of the larger but more proven cows I was going to sell as a pair after calving.

Here is a picture of the cow that will fill the heifers slot. She's big (1600 lb) but a known quantity. I was going to sell her as a part of my move toward a herd of 1200-1300 lb cows. She will probably cost a bit more than 1.50/day to keep but for now 77 stays, the heifer goes to corn and then hamburger.

jmho.  Jim at Dawn

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IMG_2690_Cow77_011710.JPG (91KB - 66 downloads)