|
In collaboration with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
CowProfit$ has been upgraded to be compatible with today's computers.
Training materials and links are available for FREE download below.
Overview
It has been said, “you cannot manage what you do not measure”. Determining cost of production is a great way for a cow-calf producer to gauge their operation’s financial sustainability. Cost of production analysis can actually be completed for all the enterprises on your ranch - cow-calf, replacements, backgrounders, grassers, hay, pasture, etc. This is known as whole-ranch analysis. It is important to calculate cost of production for all your enterprises in order to determine where the ranch is making money and where it is losing money.
Typically cow-calf cost of production is reported as dollars per cow wintered ($/cow wintered), however, dividing costs by the total pounds of calf weaned yields the unit cost of production or break-even price on calves. Your unit cost of production can be compared with posted market prices.
While Western Beef's cost of production benchmarks can offer a starting point for discussion into cow-calf cost of production in Saskatchewan, producers need to determine their own cost of production given the large variation between operations. Over the years, Western Beef found at least $100 per cow difference between the low-cost producers (Top 25%) and the study average (Figure 1). Therefore, it is invaluable for a producer to take the time and use their own production and financial information to calculate their own cost of production.
Figure 1. Variation in Cost of Production ($/cow wintered), Low-Cost versus Study Average
Source: WBDC, COP Studies, various years.
Return to top 
Tools Available to Calculate Cost of Production
CowProfit$
For many years, Western Beef utilized a software program called CowProfit$ that was developed by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry as a "little brother" to AgriProfit$. CowProfit$ is geared towards cow-calf producers and was used by Western Beef to generate cost of production benchmarks for the province until 2012. The software was upgraded in 2016 to be compatible with today's computer operating systems.
The program is pre-populated with JJD Cattle Company's (John & Jane Doe's) data, a fictitious 100 female cow-calf operation that raises its own replacements, backgrounds some of its calves, makes hay and owns pasture. Their cost of production for the cow-calf enterprise is $650 per cow wintered and their unit cost of production (break-even on calves) is $1.33 per lb with a 540 lb average wean weight. With an example operation, producers can learn the basics of how the calculator works before entering their own information.
 |
COWPROFIT$ - FREE FOR DOWNLOAD FROM ALBERTA AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY'S WEBSITE (CLICK ON ICON) |
|
COWPROFIT$ 3 MANUAL |
|
COWPROFIT$ 3 VIDEOS |
|
JJD CATTLE COMPANY - DATA SET |
COP Calculator
A free, Microsoft Excel-based tool was developed by WBDC's economist, Kathy Larson, in 2014 for producers to use at home. The Excel tool can be used to enter your own production and financial information, throughout the Excel tool are helpful hints to guide the data entry process. A populated example for a made up ranch called ABC Ranch is also available to show how the data can be entered into the tool.
This calculator was created in advance of the CowProfit$ upgrade and while it is based on CowProfit$, it lacks some features that are available in CowProfit$ (e.g., rollover ending inventories, asset listing and allocations to next calf crop). However, it has some features that CowProfit$ does not - production performance indicator calculation. A producer can use this tool or CowProfit$ to calculate their cost of production.
(Note: In order for this tool to work properly on your computer, you must have Microsoft Excel installed.)
|
COST OF PRODUCTION EXCEL TOOL
(BLANK - FILL IN WITH YOUR RANCH'S INFORMATION)
|
|
COST OF PRODUCTION TRAINING MANUAL |
|
 |
COP EXAMPLE: ABC RANCH
An example ranch has been set up to help learn how to use the Excel Tool. The PDF document provides details about ABC Ranch and its enterprises and the Excel file is populated with ABC Ranch's production and financial information. |
|
Several videos have been produced to guide you through the Excel-based calculator. The videos are on Western Beef's YouTube Channel. |
Excel Calculator from Manitoba Agriculture
Manitoba Agriculture offers single enterprise COP Excel-based calculators. These calculators are updated annually and are pre-populated. The cow-calf calculator is based on 150 cows.
|
MANITOBA AGRICULTURE'S COW-CALF COST OF PRODUCTION CALCULATOR |
Excel Calculator for Purebred Producers
The Canadian Beef Breeds Council developed a cost of production calculator tailored to purebred producers. There is also a manual to guide producers through the tool.
|
PUREBRED PRODUCER COST OF PRODUCTION CALCULATOR & MANUAL |
Looking for Historical COP Benchmarks?
Western Beef has been helping cow-calf producers calculate their cost of production (break-even price) since the late 1990s. Data was collected through ranch visits from February through April for the previous calf crop. The average sample size per year was around 25 operations (excluding 2002 and 2003). Producers in the study received their analysis for free, with the understanding that their information would be aggregated and shared as benchmarks with the industry. From 2001 to 2012, Western Beef released an annual benchmark study (except for 2006, 2007 and 2009). The results of those studies are summarized in the table below.
| |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2008 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
| Fact Sheet |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| # of Herds |
30 |
67 |
53 |
17 |
22 |
18 |
22 |
30 |
22 |
| Herd Size |
173 |
155 |
211 |
303 |
264 |
241 |
282 |
305 |
354 |
| Wean % |
94% |
92% |
94% |
93% |
94% |
89% |
88% |
88% |
88% |
| WWT (wean weight) |
510 |
523 |
515 |
524 |
565 |
545 |
542 |
549 |
510 |
| DOF (days on feed) |
n/a |
175 |
165 |
170 |
153 |
151 |
160 |
165 |
160 |
| Total Costs ($/Cow) |
$584 |
$650 |
$601 |
$553 |
$582 |
$573 |
$615 |
$625 |
$630 |
| Break-Even ($/lb of calf) |
$1.22 |
$1.35 |
$1.24 |
$1.13 |
$1.10 |
$1.19 |
$1.29 |
$1.31 |
$1.42 |
| Margin ($/Cow) |
$144 |
($68) |
($60) |
$3 |
$138 |
($110) |
($9.29) |
$122 |
$46 |
Looking for COP benchmarks for Alberta? Alberta collects producer data on an annual basis to generate benchmarks. For the most recent benchmarks visit https://tinyurl.com/y9r5zg93.
|
2012-2016 AB Cow-Calf Cost of Production |
Project Funding
We are very thankful to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and the Canada-Saskatchewan Growing Forward bi-lateral agreement through the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) for the funding to develop of a producer-friendly cost of production tool (ADF Project #20120247).
Return to top
|
