By Marc Roth

With high grain prices, does it pay to feed natural?

As unprecedented feed prices are beginning to feel like the new “normal,” the need arises to re-examine our traditional thinking and assumptions. The beef industry has successfully developed markets for cattle that have been produced under specific requirements. These programs also increase production costs. The question arises “What are these costs and how do I know if the premiums being offered are appropriate?”

To answer this question, I’ve looked at the expected cost increases to produce both non-hormone treated cattle (NHTC) and natural fed (Natural) branded beef. Evaluate by starting with either a 6-wt calf or a 9-wt yearling under three corn price scenarios, $5.75/bu, $6.75/bu, and $7.75/bu.

Let’s look at the factors that contribute to increased production costs. Some will be straight forward, while others will require reasonable assumptions. I’ll point these out so you can plug in your own numbers, if you like.

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Additional Company News & New Products Archive

By Terri Queck-Matzie

Safety makes dollars and "sense"

Twilla Tracy knows the cost of safety. “I know how much damage costs because I pay the bills,” says Tracy, an office assistant at Henry C. Hitch Feedlot in Guymon, Okla.

That knowledge led Tracy to devise a cost-saving safety measure that won her Second Place in the 2011 Texas Cattle Feeders Association Best Safety Practices Contest.

Tracy suggested installing a back-up warning system to prevent feed trucks from backing into objects like feed bunks, gates, even other vehicles.

Obama administration pulls on-farm youth labor rule

Citing concerns raised in “thousands of comments,” the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced yesterday evening, April 26, 2012, it will withdraw its proposed rule regarding youth in agriculture. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President J.D. Alexander commended the administration’s action and said farmers and ranchers made their voices heard on the proposed rule, which could have restricted, and in some instances totally prevented, America’s youth from working on farms and ranches.

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Cattle market rebounds after BSE announcement

U.S. cattle futures rebounded Wednesday from the panicked selling of a day earlier, when traders were just learning of the fourth case of mad-cow disease in the U.S.

Live-cattle futures for April delivery were up 0.9% early Wednesday, as traders were encouraged by assurances from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that no meat from the California dairy cow that incurred the disease entered the U.S. food supply.

Cattle prices also received a lift Wednesday from news that Japan, South Korea and Mexico had no plans to change their import policies for U.S. beef. Still, two major South Korean retailers pulled American beef from their shelves Wednesday because of the mad-cow case, the first appearance of the brain-wasting illness in the U.S. since 2006.

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Beyond average for quality, price

In the face of tough feeding margins and negative breakevens, cattlemen should still expect more from their feeders, says one of their own.

“It’s pretty tough margins at most feed yards,” said Dale Moore, owner and manager of Cattleman’s Choice Feedyard. But they all maintain strategies for profit, so before taking a step toward doing business with any feedlot, he suggested, “ask them to share their closeouts.”

Speaking at a recent field day in Chickasha, Okla., Moore reminded cattlemen that whether they retain ownership of cattle on feed or simply supply feeder cattle, everything comes back to the bottom line: “The feed yard and the customer both need to be profitable. It’s just that simple.”

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