Farm and Ranch income continues to be a concern for many involved in agriculture. Some indicators I have observed include recently closed machinery dealer locations, landowner concerns for rental rates and land taxes as well as 2017 crop production costs projections. The last, estimated crop production costs, are not your costs. The same is true of cow-calf costs as well. To improve cost control, farmers and ranchers must know what it costs to produce calves or grains. Another very important use of cost of production calculation is to manage crop and livestock marketing. UNL has both crop and beef production budgets which users can download. These are located at:
http://cropwatch.unl.edu/budgets
http://agecon.unl.edu/publications/cattle-budgets
One way to use these budgets is to calculate two cost of production, full and cash flow. A cash flow cost of production (COP) is useful when planning or marketing crops. For instance, what if a local grain buyer offered a minimum price contract for corn at $2.99 per bushel. Is that a price a farmer can live with? If the cash Flow COP is calculated to be $2.45/bushel, the producer knows that with the $2.99 minimum price he or she will be able to pay the bills and then some. But if the cash flow COP is $3.07/bushel some costs need to be cut or higher yields obtained at the same total cost. Or maybe both. A cash flow COP production includes all of the out of pocket production costs, the portion of family living the farm or ranch must pay, scheduled debt payments and all taxes.
Full cost of production is also an important cost to know. In the long run, say more than 5 years, all costs must be recaptured to stay in business. These costs include all cash costs plus investment in machinery, land, breeding livestock and unpaid labor. The UNL crop and beef systems budgets calculate both of these costs. Use these budgets to manage your own operation.
Red Willow Farm and Ranch Management 