FEEDING FACTS
Creep Feeding Here in the Southeast, we tend to have a wide variety of management practices that involve calving at all times of year. Some producers prefer spring calving, some fall and some year-round. No matter what your preference for calving season, or even the lack of one, creep feeding is a management tool that you should consider. I would like to tell you that it pays tremendous benefits every year, but that is not the case and the economics should be considered annually. Creep feeding has paid its way nine of the last 10 years in the obvious way and all of the last 10 years when some other benefits are considered. One economist that I saw had a chart that showed return on investment for the last 10 years averaging $25.92 per calf per year, with the lone loss year being -$3.6 and the best year being $84.60 per calf. There are many factors that are involved, but the main two are cost of gain and the value of the calf when sold. A few of the things to be considered are cost of feed, feed conversion and selling price of the calf. The
14 Cooperative Farming News
most basic way to decide if creep feeding is for you is by simply comparing the cost of the feed to the value added to the animal in its most basic terms. Generally speaking, for every 6 pounds of a quality creep feed that a calf eats, it will add 1 pound of weight to the animal. When feed costs $.10 per pound, then the cost of a pound of gain should be $.60, and I hope we don’t ever see a year where that does not pencil. If the cost of feed is $.15 per pound, then the cost of gain would be $.90, and that should also work most years. If the cost of creep is $.20 per pound, then the cost of gain would be $1.20, and that is getting closer to breakeven and would have to be looked at a bit more closely. You can also do the math in reverse and say that you expect $1.35 per pound on your calf crop. Divide that
