A 13-Year Summary of the ISU Beef Cow Business Record

A 13-year summary of the Iowa State University Extension Service’s Beef Cow Business Record (BCBR) was compiled to show the trends in cost, profit, and production for beef-cow enterprises in Iowa. During these 13 years, 966 yearly records were summarized on herds with an average size of 74.6 cows. Each year-end summary sorts the producers with profits in the top and the bottom thirds of the group so that differences can be analyzed. The average cost to maintain a beef cow from 1982 to 1994 was $370.80. Cost components included in this average total were: feed and pasture, $177.10; operating, $45.40; depreciation, taxes, and insurance, $19.70; labor, $44.90; and capital, $83.70. Producers sorted into the top one-third profit group had 13-year average total cow costs of $309.80, but the bottom onethird profit group averaged $437.10. Economic returns per cow for these same 13 years were: return to capital, labor, and management, $139.50; return to labor and management, $56.20; and net profit, $20.20. Top-profit producers had an average net profit of $126.20 per cow, whereas the least profitable group had an average loss of $107.40. Of this $233.60 difference, $127.30 was due to production cost, and the remaining $106.30 was caused by gross return differences. The average number of pounds of beef produced per cow from 1984 through 1994 was 567. This production was achieved with 2.5 acres of pasture, 3.9 acres of cornstalk grazing, and 4,675 pounds of stored feed per cow unit. Top-profit producers used 673 pounds of stored feed per hundredweight of production, but the least profitable producers used 1,015 pounds. Top-profit producers produced 74 pounds more per cow while using 1,313 pounds less stored feed.

Evaluation of a Year-Round Grazing System: Winter Progress Report

The winter component of a year-round grazing system involving grazing of corn crop residues followed by grazing stockpiled grass-legume forages was compared at the McNay Research Farm with that of the winter component of a minimal land system that maintained cows in drylot. In the summers of 1995 and 1996, two and one cuttings of hay per year were harvested from two 15-acre fields containing “Johnston” low endophtye tall fescue and red clover. Two cuttings of hay in 1995 and one cutting in 1996 were harvested from two 15-acre fields of smooth bromegrass and red clover. Hay yields were 4,236 and 4,600 pounds of dry matter per acre for the tall fescue-red clover in 1995 and 1996, and 2,239 and 2,300 pounds of dry matter per acre for the smooth bromegrass-red clover in 1995 and 1996. Following grain harvest, four 7.5-acre fields containing corn crop residues were stocked with cows at midgestation at an allowance of 1.5 acres per cow. Forage yields at the initiation of corn crop grazing in 1995 and 1996 were 3,757 and 3,551 pounds of dry matter per acre for corn crop residues. Stockpiled forage yields were 1,748 and 2,912 pounds of dry matter for tall fescue-red clover and 1,880 and 2,187 pounds for smooth bromegrass-red clover. Corn crop residues and stockpiled forages were grazed in a strip stocking system. For comparison, 20 cows in 1995 and 16 cows in 1996 were placed in two drylots simultaneously with initiation of corn crop grazing, where they remained throughout the winter and spring grazing periods. Cows maintained in drylots or grazing corn crop residue and stockpiled forages were supplemented with hay as large round bales to maintain a body condition score of five. In both years, no seasonal differences in body weight and body condition score were observed between grazing cows or cows maintained in drylots, but grazing cows required 85% and 98% less harvested hay in years 1 and 2 than cows in drylot during the winter and spring. Because less hay was needed to maintain grazing cows, excesses of 12,354 and 5,244 pounds of hay dry matter per cow in 1995 and 1996 remained in the year-round grazing system. During corn crop grazing, organic matter yield decreased at 23.5 and 28.8 pounds of organic matter per day from grazed areas of corn crop residues in 1995 and 1996. Organic matter losses due to weathering were 6.8, 10.3, and 12.7 pounds per day in corn crop residue, tall fescue-red clover and smooth bromegrass-red clover in 1995 and 12.1, 10.7, and 12.1 in 1996. Organic matter losses from grazed and ungrazed areas of tall fescue-red clover and smooth bromegrass-red clover during stockpiled grazing were 6.9, 6.9, and 2.1, 2.9 in 1995 and 13.4, 4.3, and +6.9, 4.4 pounds per day in 1996.

Evaluation of a Year-Round Grazing System: Winter Progress Report

The winter component of a year-round grazing system involving grazing of corn crop residues followed by grazing stockpiled grass legume forages was compared at the McNay Research Farm with that of the winter component of a minimal land system that maintained cows in drylot,. In the summer of 1995, two cuttings of hay were harvested from two 15-acre fields containing “Johnston” endophyte-free tall fescue and red clover, and two cuttings of hay were taken from two 15-acre fields of smooth bromegrass and red clover. Hay yields were 4,236 and 4,600 pounds of dry matter per acre for the tall fescue--red clover and smooth bromegrass--red clover. Following grain harvest four 7.5-acre fields containing corn crop residue were stocked with cows at midgestation at an allowance of 1.5 acres per cow. Forage yields at the initiation of corn crop grazing were 3,766pounds of dry matter per acre for corn crop residue, 1,748 pounds for tall fescue--red clover, and 1,.880 pounds for smooth bromegrass--red clover. Corn crop residues and stockpiled forages were grazed in a strip stocking system. For comparison, 20 cows were placed in two drylots simultaneously to the initiation of corn crop grazing where they remained throughout the winter and spring grazing seasons. Cows maintained in drylot or grazing corn crop residue and stockpiled forages were supplemented with hay as large round bales to maintain a body condition score of five. No seasonal differences in body weight and body condition were observed between grazing cows or cows maintained in drylot, but grazing cows required 87% and 84% less harvested hay than cows in drylot during the winter and spring respectively. Because less hay was needed to maintain grazing cows, an excess of 11,905 and 12,803 pounds of hay dry matter per cow remained in the year-round grazing system. During corn crop grazing, organic matter yield decreased at 27.3 pounds of organic matter per day from grazed areas of corn crop residue. Organic matter losses due to weathering were 9.4, 12.9, and 15.8 pounds per day in corn crop residue, tall fescue-red clover and smooth bromegrass-red clover. Organic matter losses from grazed and ungrazed areas during stockpiled grazing were 7.3 and 6.9 for tall fescue--red clover and 2.1, 2.9 for smooth bromegrass--red clover.