Calculating financial risks and opportunities in backgrounding

The Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) is offering a new Backgrounding Calculator to cow-calf producers deciding whether they should sell or background calves.

The new tool is a downloadable XLS file that incorporates variables like current calf prices, cost of gain, and projected feeder prices, in order to identify economic opportunities and risks from backgrounding cattle.

The calculator shows the net returns, by considering the performance and price risks, includes average daily gain, shrink rate and death loss information, and price adjustment due to weight change and market seasonality.

Producers can customize the information by adjusting the yellow cells, then compare the information demonstrated in the three customized backgrounding periods (90, 120, and 150 days).

For details, scenarios, tips, and to download the calculator, head to the BCRC’s introduction to the Backgrounding Calculator.

Photo: Canada Beef Inc.