E2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 21,1992 ■i 45 v i -• MANAGEMENT F A R DAIRY AND LIVESTOCK EFFICIENCY Duane L. Stevenson, Jr. Multicounty Farm Management Agent In today’s agriculture, one needs to have a handle on the costs as well as the gross revenue. The profit margin has narrowed over the last several years, thus leaving little room for mismanagement or mistakes. Here are some basic questions that every livestock pro ducer should know the answers to: • How much does it cost to produce 100 pounds of milk? • What are the returns per $lOO of feed fed? • How much does it cost for me to produce a pound of pork, beef, lamb, poultry, or fish? • What is the breakeven cost for my livestock enterprises? • What are the number of pigs farrowed and weaned per litter? • What is the percent of calf crop? • What is the milk production per cow, milk composi tion, and quality? • What is the average daily gain of my livestock enterprise^)? • What percent of death loss was encountered of the tot al weight produced? • What is the dry cow percentage of total dairy herd? The above questions are just examples of some of the information we should be concerned about when address ing profitability and efficiency of livestock enterprises. Some of these questions can be viewed as being effi ciency measures of an enterprise. It is hard to do a good job marketing if we don’t know the costs involved in produc ing the saleable product, After reviewing the above questions, how did your livestock operation fair for 1991? What changes will you be making in 1992 or future years to improve profitability on your farming operation? Every farmer wants to increase net farm income. Records: The first step in determining the answers to the above questions and others is reviewing 1991’s records and finding out the actual costs that were involved in producing the product that your farming operation is marketing. At this point, we can begin to realize how valuable records are in measuring the efficiency of the farming enterprises. If you have a good set of records, the informa tion needed to measure the efficiencies of the livestock enterprises will be fairly simple. A good set of records should include tax information, as well as financial infor mation, along with production information, which includes realistic inventories. Livestock records can be divided into four major categories; mortality, breeding, performance, and feed. Performance records can be broken down into birth records and production records. If your record keeping system is inadequate or not complete, make the necessary changes in your system in 1992. Good records require time and organization, so the records can be reviewed eas ily at a later time. After getting out your 1991 records, you need to know what information is needed to analyze the livestock enter prise(s). Keep in mind that the more detailed your farm business records are the easier it will be to extract the information needed. To evaluate an enterprise, we need to determine what costs are involved in operating it. There are two main categories of expenses that you will be working with variable (operating) and fixed costs. Variable costs are defined as those costs which change as production varies over production cycle or season. Variable costs are asso ciated with the amount of sales of the business, with inputs or costs that are changed or used in the production of an output or product Operating costs are avoidable in the sense and can be controlled because they vary with the level of production. Some examples of variable costs that may be encoun tered in a livestock enterprise are feed, hired labor, veter inary expenses and medicine, equipment and machinery repairs, utilities, milk hauling, marketing, advertising, bedding, livestock supplies, insurance, market livestock purchases, and other cash costs. The largest single operating cost of livestock produc tion, excluding market livestock purchases, is feed. Feed costs account for 30 percent to 80 percent of the total cost of producing meat or other livestock products. Keep in mind the production costs of crops grown for livestock consumption as well as the purchased feed. Crops that are grown for livestock enterprises are not free. Fixed costs are often referred to as overhead costs or ownership costs. Fixed costs are the same for the farm bus- iness whether the value of output or gross production sales is $0 or $lOO,OOO. Depreciation, interest, and taxes are examples of fixed costs. Production and feed determinations are the major effi ciency measures that can be pulled from a general set of farm accounts and records for livestock. Measures of pro duction relate to output per livestock units, such as pigs farrowed or weaned per litter, percent of calf crop or pounds of calf weaned per cow. milk per cow, and weight gain per day. Feed efficiency can be a physical or financial measure. However keep in mind that the amount of feed required to produce a pound of meat, a dozen eggs, or 100 pounds of milk can be determined also. In most cases the only requirement is to have a record of the weights of feed, livestock, and products purchased and sold. A logical approach to feed costs is to establish whether the problem is price or quantity. Arc quantities excessive on a per-animal-day basis or per-unit-of-gain basis? If not, look carefully at price. If cost per unit (pounds) is not excessive, then quantity must be, if a problem exists. If the problem is quantity, is it quantity per animal day (indicat ing waste) or only quantity per pound of production (indi cating ration quality, imbalance, or animal health prob lems resulting in subperformance)? Production Performance Guides: Beef Production: One should note that the following recommendations axe generally accepted figures and should be adjusted accordingly for various frame size cattle, breeds of cattle, the respective ages of cattle, the sex of the cattle, and the objective of the cattle for your particular management. 1. Rapid gains promote improved feed conversion. a. At 1.5 pounds per day gain (600 pound cattle) mainte nance alone requires 53 percent feed. b. At 2.6 pounds per day gain (600 lb. cattle) mainte nance alone requires 39 percent of feed. c. Maintenance gains of 1.5 to 2.6 should increase For the Iron You Get, the Price is a Steal A New John Deere 5000 Series Spirit Tractors ENFIELD A.B.C. GROFF. INC. EQUIPMENT INC. Haw Holland, PA Whllaford, MD 717-384-41*1 CLUGSTON FARM 301-452-5252 EQUIPMENT Naadmora, PA 717-873-2218 ADAMSTOWN EQUIPMENT INC. Mohnton, PA (near Adamatown) 218-4*4-43*1 CLUGSTON AG & TURF, MC. Chambaraburg, PA 717-253-4103 CARLYLE A MARTIN, INC. Hagaratown, MD 301-733-1*73 FINCH SERVICES- LEI nccpnci n *r. t HANOVER INC. I.G. SALES EG DEEnncLD AG A UinAwar pa SltvwdAto. PA WtfC TURF CENTER, INC. 717-532-2345 215-287-8135 21* Wataontown, PA 717-835-3887 BARTRON SUPPLY, me. Tunkhannock, PA 717-*3*-4011 growth of individual aniiqals but should not necessarily add excess fat or overconditioning. d. Maintenance and growing rations should be different from finishing radons. 2. Slow winter gains result in more feed per pound of gain. Slow winter gains usually must be compensated fot by cheap spring and summer pasture gains. Pasture gains should be fairly equal to the maintenance gains on the same cattle, resulting in a gain of 1.5 to 2.5 pounds per day on quality pasture. 3. A general rule of thumb is that for 100 pounds live body weight, you will need to feed 2 pounds of grain pa head per day. So a 600-pound animal should be getting 12 pounds of grain or equivalent feeds. 4. Strive for a minimum of 2.S pounds to a maximum of 4 pounds per day salable gain in die finishing period. This will depend on die finishing radon, the manner of feeding (such as unlimited self-feeding or hand-feeding), the stage and condition of the catde when they begin the finishing period, the length of the feeding period, and the weight/ quality grade desired for the end product. Finishing 7SO-800 pound grass-fed steers could gain 350 to 400 pounds in 100 days on a 16 percent self-fed radon, yield ing a 1,110 to I,2oopound live weight, producing a 700 to 800 pound select to choice carcass. Death Loss—strive for zero! Loss is usually attributed to shipping, weather conditions upon arrival and during shipping, and prehandling techniques and procedure) prior to sale or shipping. 1. Under 2 percent for long-fed calves. 2. Under 1 percent for long-fed yearlings. 3. Under .6 percent for short-fed yearlings Feeding Margins I. Operating on a negative feeding margin (buying price per pound is higher than selling price per pound): a. As die negative margin widens, it becomes increas ingly important for the gain added to the feeder animal to make up a higher proportion of the final weight. (Turn to Pago E 29) • • 'll EVERGREEN TRACTOR CO, MC. Lebanon, PA 717-272-4541 John Deere proudly into duces three new 40-, 50- and 60-hp tractors pads with John Deere value. You get dependable pow from new John Deere w sleeve diesel engines designed to maximize performance and fuel efficiency. And a new hy draulk system that deliv< tire highest standard fta in this horsepower ran# for fast, efficient loader GUTSHALL'S INC. RD 52 Box 74-A Leytvlllo, PA LANDIS GUTSHALL’S MC. Carliala, PA 717-245-2313 KISTLI Lynnp 215-21
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