A4O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 18, 1998
Needless to say, income and expenses affect farm profits Thus, it is important for you to know your
costs of production Until you know that, you can not make smart management decisions.
Total Farm Income
In addition to knowing total costs for the farm, it is very helpful to summarize your costs by categories cwt * cow
and by enterprises With the aid of your farm records or your tax return, it is relatively easy to do.
First, break your income and expenses into several broad categories, such as:
Dairy Income Land Costs
Non-Dairy Income Machinery Costs
General Dairy Costs Buildings and Facilities Costs
Feed Purchases Labor Costs
Crop Costs Miscellaneous Costs
Next, assign your income and expense items to one of the general categories listed above. For example,
milk and cattle sales would be assigned to dairy income. Crop sales would be non-dairy income. Vet and
medical expenses would go under general dairy costs. Fuel used in the field could go under machinery
costs, whereas fuel used around the bam might be a general dairy cost. Expense items such as rent,
repairs, interest, depreciation or principal payments, real-estate taxes, etc. appear under several broad
categories, as illustrated in the worksheet.
Create a column for total farm income and expenses, and enter your farm totals. Some expense items,
such as interest, depreciation, insurance, repairs, etc. will appear in several different categories, so you
may want to allocate a portion of that expense item to several appropriate categories For example, half of
the farm rent might go under buildings and facilities and the other half might be assigned to land costs
Depending on how detailed your records are, you might have to make a guess as to what allocation might
be appropriate for your farm. Don’t let that hinder you from doing it. Even though it won’t be perfect, it
will still be a useful guide, and a whole lot better than nothing.
Off to the right of the column for farm totals, create additional columns for enterprises, such as those
listed below Then, allocate a portion of the total farm income and expenses, which you have just entered
above, to each enterprise, as appropriate Here again, some more guess work might be needed .
Average per cwt milk Com (silage and grain) c e *l .. cro P SU PP*
Cows Hay t ' ert ’ lime ’ cnem
Replacements (heifers) Pasture
Subtotal
Then, calculate the totals and averages for each of the enterprises, and for each category of expense. Avg / acre
Now, you can also calculate cost per cwt. of milk shipped, cost per cow, cost per replacement, cost per Av ®' cwt * cow
acre, cost per ton, cowt per bushel, etc. You now have some very valuable management information
You also have a detailed record of your itemized costs of production. With this cost breakdown you can
identify where costs and productions are out of line with your goals. You can decide if it is more
economical to raise feed or buy it, to do all of your own field work or hire someone to do some of it for
you, to raise replacements vs. contracting them out for someone else to raise or purchasing them, etc
Penn State Fruit Times Newsletter
UPCOMING DATES
July 29 - Rock Springs Fruit and Vegetable Field Day Russell E Larson Research Center,
Rock Springs, PA
August 20-21 - U S Apple Association Apple Crop Outlook & Marketing Conference
Chicago
FRUIT AND VEGETABLE FIELD DAY - JULY 29 Mark your calendars for the Fruit and
Vegetable Field day to be held at the Russell E Larson Research Center at Rock Springs This full
day event will feature the latest research being conducted on vegetables and tree fruit and small
fruit Registration begins at 8.00 a m with tours starting at 9-15 a.m Highlights in tree fruit
include
Fire blight susceptibility of different rootstocks and cultivars
Reduced pesticide applications for control of sooty blotch and fly speck
1990 8 Cultivar by 4 rootstock replicated Inal
1993 Liberty planting on Cornell Geneva Semidwarf rootstocks
1994 Gala planting on M 9 size rootstocks
1995 Gala & Ginger Gold planting on M 9 and B 9
NE-183 National Apple Qultivar Planting Tnal
Utilization of an m-row cover for weed control and a hydrophilic polymer
Utilization of the plant growth regulator Apogee for growth control
Use of ReTam on early apples to reduce preharvest drop and improve fruit color
In addition to the tours we will also have exhibitors on hand displaying some of the latest
equipment for horticultural crop production The meeting is jointly sponsored by Penn State
University, State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers Association
Registration is $2O 00 advance for adults and $l5 00 for children under 16 and $25 00 after July
22 Send in registration to Mrs Maureen Irvin, State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania, '
697 Mountain Rd, Orrtanna, PA 17353 You can also phone your reservations in bv calling 717-
677-4184 3 6
ENTOMOLOGY;
PHEROMONE TRAP COUNTS Weekly capture in pheromone traps at Biglerville This
information, updated each Friday, can now be reached from chttp //free cas psu edu> under the
Current Events menu
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DAIRY FARM
MANAGEMENT
BASICS
A Farm Management Course by
Glenn A. Shirk
Penn State Extension Agent
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
1911
28
183
110
38
65
79
3497
6/11 6/18
35
4347
30
77
4095
76
3549
Farm
Total
No. head or acres
Production / unit
Yields (farm totals)
Cwt milk shipped
No. dairy workers
Milk / worker
Income Categoru
Dairy Income:
Milk sales
Cull cattle
Breeding cattle
Subtotal
Avg / cwt & cow
Non-Dairy Income.
Crop sales
Custom work
Dividends, interest
Subtotal
Avg / acre
Avg / cwt & cow
Farm
TPtaj
Expenses Categories
General Dairy Costs'
Dairy supplies
Breed, test, register
Vet, medicine
Marketing(dairy)
Trucking (dairy)
Manure hauling
Utilities
Fuel (dairy)
Cow purchases
Heifer contracts
Interest (cattle)
Dep, Pnnc (cows)
Insurance
Subtotal
Avg / cwt & cow
Purchased Feeds
Avg / cwt & cow
Land Costs;
Rent
Taxes (land)
Interest (land)
Principal (land)
Conservation
Subtotal
Avg / acre
Avg / cwt & cow
Mach & Equip Costs:
Fuel, oil (field)
Repair
Purchases
Custom work
Interest
Deprec or Principal
Insurance
Subtotal
Avg / acre
Avg / cwt & cow
Farm
Total
Buildings, Facilities;
Rent (buildings)
Repair (buildings)
Taxes (buildings)
Interest (buildings)
Dep or pnnc (bldg)
Insurance (bldg)
Subtotal
Avg / acre
Avg / cwt & cow
Labor Costs -
Unpaid (optional)
Hired labor
Benefits (value)
Wage taxes
Insurance
Subtotal
Avg / acre
Avg / cwt & cow
Avg / worker
Miscellaneous Costs
Equity int (option)
Subtotal
Avg / acre
Avg / cwt & cow
Per Cwt
of Milk
Heif or
Cows Reolac
Per Cwt
of Milk
Heif or
Cows Replac
Heif or
Cows Replac
Per Cwt
of Milk
Com Com
Silagg- Grain Hay Pasture
Com Com
Silage Grain Hav Pasture
Com Com
Silage Grain Hay Pasture