Enhance Economic Opportunities for Agricultural Producers

Decision Aid Software for Cattle Operations

Issue (Who cares and why?)
      Management and marketing are key components of success and profitability of any beef cow/calf operation. The choices needed to make accurate decisions are complex, difficult and often impractical as most producers know. What producers were asking for was a tool that provided flexibility (based upon management practices selected) in real-time that accurately predicted the economic investment necessary to take an animal from recently weaned calves to market/breeder standards. Producers needed something that would allow them to play “what if…” and tell them the subsequent effects on their wallets. .

What has been done?
      What faculty at the University of Nevada developed were three software packages that would enable producers to evaluate various management practices and their potential impacts on profitability. “Feedlot” was design to help producers estimate the economics of retained ownership of yearlings through the a feedlot. The second package “Grassfat” was designed to track your yearling cattle through the pasturing stage of production. And, “Calf back” was designed to track calves after weaning through the production process and allows producers to vertically integrate and diversity their operation while spreading marketing risk throughout the year.

Impact
      This software, available for free at http://www.ag.unr.edu/cabnr/resources.htm, lets producers check rapidly many different scenarios and possible prices, costs, etc., and how they will affect profits. Over the last year and a half, visitors from 40 states and 14 countries have downloaded over 771 copies of the software. Ron Torrell of Elko, NV claims that by using this software “budgeting your production alternatives can save you money by avoiding costly mistakes.” To download the software visit: http://www.cabnr.unr.edu/cabnr/Resources.htm and scroll down to Software Downloads.

Contact
Ben Bruce
Animal Biotechnology/202
University of Nevada
Reno, Nevada 89557
bbruce@unr.nevada.edu