Farmers will have more than their instincts to rely on when choosing female breeding stock with the introduction of an on-line cattle calculator from Alberta Agriculture.
The Breeding Female Investment calculator is available online at www.agric.gov.ab.ca.
Cattle producers generally rely on their gut feelings, market values and assumptions on the return expected for their investment, said Jeff Millang, Alberta Agriculture’s financial business analyst for beef.
“Now they will have an idea when they will break even.”
The calculator asks producers to identify revenue from the length of investment in years, the rate of return expected, price projections for the calf revenue and expected calf weights for future years.
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Expenses include variable costs and fixed costs for raising a calf and sustaining a cow for one year.
The estimated payback comes from subtracting those expenses from the revenues.
“This is an economic tool that takes some of the guesswork and puts some structure around it,” said Millang.
For those who do not have accurate fixed and variable cost figures, he suggested using the AgriProfits benchmarks.
The calculator determines the investment price based on the cow’s productive value and the costs of getting a calf to market. It can also show producers the monetary effect of losing a calf.
In demonstrations earlier this year, Millang found producers with wallets already pinched by the BSE outbreak eager to fine tune such calculations.
“Producers are receptive to a new way of looking at their investment choices,” said Millang.
