Page 30 - MWC 3-10-2022s

The Midwest Cattleman · March 10, 2022 · P30
Should you invest more in reproductive management?

By Jordan Thomas, State Cow-Calf Specialist, University of Missouri
Have you ever sat down don’t forget, we also ought to What should that cost be?
and figured out what it costs include the cost of repairing or Benchmarks
to breed a cow? It might seem replacing all of the things the One way to attempt to an-
like an easy number to calcu- bulls tear up – “if you know, swer cost-related questions
late, since we can add up all of you know,” as they say. is to look at others’ costs as a
our natural service bull pur- An economist might remind benchmark. I occasionally see
chases and subtract out the you to include opportunity benchmarks for breeding costs
salvage value of any bulls sold. costs as well; after all, the eq- as low as the $40- per-cow
Of course, we need to add uity and other resources tied and the per-cow cost of natu-
in the costs of pasture, feed up by those bulls could have range. We can debate wheth- ral service bulls in that situ-
er we think that number is
and mineral for those bulls as been used to generate a re- optimistically low – I tend to ation still amounts to $30 per
well. We also need to include turn in other ways. Perhaps think it is. But today I have a cow. In this hypothetical, then,
any health costs and routine leaving aside that last point, different question in mind: If the $50 per cow in added cost
care costs for those bulls. And we ought to be able to come up a $40-per-cow breeding cost is (synchronization products,
with at least actually an attainable bench- labor, semen, etc.) brings the
an approx- mark, why would any com- total breeding costs on a per-
imation of mercial producer ever invest cow basis up to around $80.
the total dol- $50 or so per cow in carrying That is essentially double the
lar amount out an estrous synchroniza- $40 benchmark. How in the
spent on tion and fixed-time artificial world, you might ask, could it
breeding. Di- insemination (A.I.) program? ever be a profitable decision
viding that Let’s flesh out this compar- to double a cost of production
by the num- ison. Just for the sake of mak- like that?
ber of cows ing it extreme, let’s say the use A better management
exposed, we of a fixed-time A.I. program to mindset
come up with begin the breeding season al-
We have to be thoughtful
a breeding lows only a modest reduction about how we approach cost-re-
cost on a per- in the number of bulls re- lated benchmarks. If you have
A.I. has many advantages, including access to a larger population cow basis.
of sires. Photo by Wendy Sweeter. quired on the farm or ranch, a minute, take a look at the

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