Crop & Livestock Automatic Calculations

For calculating crops income, we're going to assume crop prices are relatively high

Enter numbers from your farm in columns B through F, or use a number within the Typical Range.

at $6/bu corn, $15/bu soybean, and $8/bu small grain. The reason for $8 small grain

Don't worry about getting things exact. Put in your best top-of-mind estimate.

is an assumption you could grow wheat on those acres, which is higher value than

You can change numbers later if you decide they should be different.

most other small grains. Hay, haylage, and baleage prices are set at $160/ton.

If a cell is grayed out, don't enter anything there.

Starting with high crop prices means we end up with a

It is fine to leave a number at zero if it doesn't apply to you.

conservative estimate of the value of adding livestock to an operation.

All numbers should be per year, for a typical year.

The sensitivity analysis tabs will show what happens if crop prices change.

You can enter expenses by category, OR just enter total crop expenses in line 39, whichever is easier.

Ecotone Analytics Technical Document for Green Lands Blue Waters, p. 48, "Avoided Soil Erosion from Water"

https://greenlandsbluewaters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/GLBW-Technical-Document.pdf

Loss reduction due to cover crops & forage, 56%

3.9 tons x 0.56 = 2.2 tons retained on forage fields

Estimate if cover cropped fields are also row-cropped:

1.5 tons of soil retained on row-cropped + cover cropped fields

Range: $389 to $852 per acre. Median: $589 per acre.

(lbs wet manure/day x % DM x # animals x # days)/2000

Again, enter your best top-of-mind estimate and don't worry about being exact.

Grain consumption by livestock class estimated from Extension publications (below)

Breeding stock are assumed to be fed the same as heavy feeders.

Example scenario: 180 days grazed; 0 days fed grain; 185 days fed hay, haylage, etc.

Bushel weights: 56 lbs/bu corn, 60 lbs/bu soybeans.

Price assumptions: $6/bu corn, $15/bu soybeans

Example scenario: 240 days grazed; 180 days fed grain; 60 days fed hay, haylage, etc.

Example scenario, Heavy feeders: 60 days grazed; 75 days fed grain; 15 days fed hay, haylage, etc.

Example scenario, Fed cattle, seasonal feedlot: 0 days grazed, 175 days fed grain; 175 days fed hay, haylage, etc.

Example scenario, Fed cattle, year-round feedlot: 0 days grazed; 365 days fed grain; 365 days fed hay, haylage, etc.

Hay consumption by livestock class estimated from Extension publications (below)

Breeding stock are assumed to be fed the same as heavy feeders.

You can enter expenses by category, OR just enter total livestock expenses in line 76, whichever is easier.

Hay amounts are on as as-fed basis, assuming 12% moisture.

It is fine to leave a line blank or enter zero if it doesn't apply to you.

All forage fed is assumed to be hay for purposes of these calculations.

Range: $406 to $1,632 per head. Median: $847 per head.

Correction factor for farm-raised feed:

Milk EPD and creep feed intake. August 2024, Volume 15, Issue 2

(Assume purchased feed is 10% cheaper than farm-raised)

Patrick Wall, ISU extension beef specialist,

and Dacia Schoulte, IBC communications intern

https://www.iowabeefcenter.org/gb/2024/August2024MilkEPD.html

Dry Matter Intake for Beef Cattle. Beef Cattle Handbook. D.W. Swanson, D.L. Hixon.

https://www.iowabeefcenter.org/bch/DryMatterIntake.pdf

Range: $0 to $128,000

Backgrounding calves part 2: Herd Health & Feeding. H. B. Sewell, V. E. Jacobs, J. R. Gerrish

Table 4: Ration for 500-pound steer to gain 2.0 pounds daily (pounds per head per day)

Partial Budgeting: A Tool to Analyze Farm Business Changes

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2096. 1993

Iowa State University : https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c1-50.html

https://extension.psu.edu/ration-formulation-for-growing-cattle