Fall is a time when spring-born calves are being weaned and decisions are being made about marketing the calves. Many producers choose to background their calves after weaning and sell them after the first of the year. To determine if this is a good financial decision, producers must know costs of gain and expected sale price, sale weight, and sale date.
We have many grain and grain by-products to choose from when developing cattle rations. Choice of ingredients is based on cost, feed storage facilities, rate of use, and desired animal performance.
Many producers, however, only look at the cost of individual feed ingredients per ton, particularly if they have the capability to utilize higher moisture feeds from ethanol plants. Recent price quotes from MU Extension By-Product Feed Price Listing have wet distiller’s grains costing $10 per ton less at Missouri ethanol plants than modified distiller’s grains. However, when calculating the cost of nutrients per pound of energy or protein on a dry matter basis, the current pricing structure favors the modified distillers’ product, even though it is more expensive per ton.
When determining which feed ingredients to select, they need to be evaluated in the total ration being fed, not by the individual cost of each ingredient. Additionally, many of these by-product feeds provide different positive aspects to the entire ration, so knowledge of the positive and negative attributes of different potential feed ingredients is important.
Another helpful calculation is feed cost per pound of gain. This is straightforward to determine and many ration programs can calculate this if feed ingredient costs are known. It is important to estimate the cost of all ration ingredients, including the forages. Be sure to include transportation and shrink costs when pricing ingredients, especially if buying semi-load lots of ingredients.
Ultimately, working with someone who can develop cost-effective rations designed to meet the performance goals of the livestock will pay off in the long run. If I can assist you with this process, please contact me at schmitze@missouri.edu or by calling the Pettis County Extension Center at 660-827-0591.
** University of Missouri Extension does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or status as a Vietnam-era veteran in employment or programs.
