5 Ways to Cut your Cattle Feed Cost

Posted by SLN Staff on May 8th, 2015 | Comments Off home title

It’s important for a beef or dairy cattle rancher or farmer to keep feeding costs low. It could play a vital role in increasing profits. Here are 5 ways to cut your cattle feeding costs.

One of the most important aspects of livestock or cattle business is keeping the costs low. When you are trying to make a profit from your business, it’s important to find balance between cost and quality for your feed. Below are five ways you could cut your livestock feeding costs.

“The profit equation is simple really, we can increase revenue or we can decrease expenses,” – Donnell Brown, R.A Brown Ranch, Throckmorton, TX.

1. Monitoring

Closely monitor your animals, their health, and growth. Analyzing performance of your animals and costs will allow you to feed your animals more efficiently. You may have to make adjustments as the price of animals and feed changes. It’s also important that you know exactly what your production costs are for making timely marketing decisions.

2. Select your animals carefully

If your animals are not performing at their peak, they are probably costing you money. Select the breed of cattle that best suit your needs. When you select healthy animals to start and provide a suitable environment and balanced diet, they will produce more for you naturally. Select breeds that complement and best fit your market. Develop a breeding system that best fits your management style and production goals.

3. Marketing for profit

Carefully budgeting and analyzing your market will increase your profit. Timely marketing your products can reduce your production costs. Sometimes it may cost you more to keep and feed your animals when they could be sold for profit. In cattle business, purchase cost is often a large expense, and you need to consider that when you are buying or selling your animals.

Often the cheapest cattle are not the most profitable. Examining records of previous close-outs and past history of cattle from a reliable source is often useful in increasing profits. You will find a list of online cattle markets at the end of this article.

4. Manage pasture grazing

Grazing management is a major key to profitable livestock farming. Livestock, unlike their wild ancestors, needs to be managed to graze the forage efficiently. The end result is weight gain in your animals and healthy lush pastures. If you have good pastures but poorly manage your livestock grazing, your potential profits will be reduced and your pastures damaged for years to come. When you have maximum forage production and well managed pastures, and also well managed animals, you will make maximum profit while supporting the ecosystem.

5. Alternate feeding options

To supplement your pasture grass, you may want to look for alternative feeding options. Locally grown corn or corn stalks processed into silage can be a good supplement and can also be low on transportation costs. Bi-product feeds can also be used to substitute your corn. During feed shortages or droughts, substitute 1 pound of grain or other concentrate feed for 2 pounds of alfalfa hay or 3 pounds of grass hay. Carefully balance every ration against the animal’s’ requirements.

P.S: – You could grow luscious micro-green grasses with our micro-green fodder system. Have you tried our DIY systems? Now is the best time to grow your own micro-green fodder. Click here to get DIY plans for proven livestock feeding systems.

To learn how you can setup a DIY system please contact us at 303-495-3705 or Click here to book a meeting with us. You can also get your Feed in A Box Microgreens (fodder) from us, you will absolutely love it!!

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Source: Sustainable Livestock Nutrition