Cattleman’s Chronicle Flying H Genetics
Spring Newsletter
2015
Vol.17
Bulls — Cows — Calves
Size Matters
because
Pounds Pay
It doesn’t matter if you have big or small cows or sell calves, fed cattle or steaks; you get paid by the pound! A) A 96% conception rate vs. 94% gives you two more calves at birth and 98% live calves at birth vs. 95% gives you another 3 calves and weaning 99% instead of 97% will add another 2 calves for a total of 7 more calves to sell out of every 100 cows. Conception rates, calving ease, good health and management all pay because you have more calves and pounds to sell.
Do I make more money selling an 80 pound baby calf for $7.50 per pound or a 1,500 pound fed steer for $2.50 per pound carcass weight? Let’s say it costs you $800 to carry a cow for a year-including feed, vet., interest, labor, fixed costs etc. If it costs $700 to carry a cow and I sell her baby calf for $600 per head, I just lost $100. If I sell her calf at weaning weighing 600 pounds for $1500 with $150 more dollars cost in the calf, I make $550 per head. If I sell her calf as an 800 pound yearling costing me $200 more but selling for $1900 I make an additional $200 per head. And if I retain ownership through the feedlot and sell my calf as a 1500 pound steer on the grid at $2.50 per pound carcass weight my gross is $2437 for an additional profit of $47 per head. The point is, SIZE MATTERS because POUNDS PAY!
There are two ways to add profits to your calves: 1) SELL MORE POUNDS which come two ways— selling more calves and selling more weight per calf.
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Flying H Professor 22W Continued on page 2