Benchmarking your herd can be an important tool to look at your cost and revenues compared to other beef producers. Producers can look at where their expenses are high compared to other similar cow/calf producers. Benchmarking can give you better feedback the more similar the operation. Once you Continue reading…
If you did not plant winter, annual small grains for spring forage in the fall last year, there are not many opportunities remaining to produce forage for grazing or hay. The last remaining option to consider is spring-planted oats. Oats can be planted in early spring for pasture or hay. There are Continue reading…
Pasture and hayland grass growth is stimulated by fertilizer just like other crops. While nitrogen (N) is the primary nutrient most commonly needed for grasses, others, such as phosphorous (P), potassium (K), or sulfur (S) may also be deficient and could result in greater growth. Soil testing shou Continue reading…
Since the 2016 insurance year, Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) insurance has been available in every county in the nation. WFRP covers farm revenue from all commodities produced for the whole farm for the insured year with adjustments made for inventory carryovers. Some significant changes were Continue reading…
When evaluating a cow-calf enterprise, one of the foundational productivity measures to understand and calculate is the realized reproductive rate. The realized reproductive rate is the percentage of calves weaned from cows that were exposed to breeding. It is often identified as the percent calf Continue reading…
Distillers grains are a common component in finishing diets in Nebraska. Their inclusion has resulted in improved performance while also improving cost of production. Recently, ethanol plants have been removing fiber components and corn oil, thus changing the composition of the available distillers Continue reading…
Late March or early April is the time to plant spring forage cocktails for beef cattle grazing. Spring forage cocktails can be planted as a way of shortening fallow time between crop rotations or these forages could be planted as part of a series of annual forage crops to be used through the grazing Continue reading…
One challenge farm/ranch operators have is to accurately find where to make changes to an operation to increase profits. Many have the records and numbers but don’t know where to start. A system of financial analysis developed nearly 100 years ago by an explosive salesman for DuPont Explosives Comp Continue reading…