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Cow-calf breakeven calculator
What the calves have to bring per hundredweight. Split steers and heifers, take cull-cow income off the top.
Worked example: 30 cows
Leave the form on its defaults: 30 cows, $900 per cow per year, weaning weight 550 lb, calf crop 85%, death loss 0, steers 50%, and heifer weight discount 0. Leave Feed + hay and Other cash blank so the $900 total is what runs. Leave cull percent and cull $/cwt at 0.
550 lb times 85% is 467.5 lb of calf sold per cow. With the heifer discount at 0, the steer/heifer split does not change that total. The result box rounds payweight to 468 lb and prints the necessary calf price as $192.51/cwt ($1.93 per pound).
Same herd, open Cull cows: 15% culled, 1,100 lb, $120/cwt. That is an example input, not a sale-barn quote. The credit is $198 per cow. Cost minus cull prints $702 per cow, and the necessary price prints $150.16/cwt. Pounds of calf stay 467.5 (468 lb on the screen). The cull check comes off the top. Example only. Punch your own costs in.
| Case | Payweight / cow | Cost − cull / cow | Need |
|---|---|---|---|
| No culls | 468 lb | $900 | $192.51/cwt |
| 15% cull, 1,100 lb, $120/cwt | 468 lb | $702 | $150.16/cwt |
What goes in cost per cow
The $900 box is one number for the year: feed and hay, vet, mineral, fuel, repairs, interest, and a share of the bull. To split it, type feed and hay in Feed + hay $/cow and the rest in Other cash $/cow. When those two add to more than zero, the calculator uses that sum instead of the total box.
Tons and waste for the hay line belong on the hay calculator. What that hay costs per pound of energy, next to cubes or grain, is TDN cost. How many cows one bull should cover, so his cost is spread across the right head count, is cows per bull.
Steers vs heifers and cull credit
Steers % of calves is the steer share of the weaned crop. The rest are heifers. Heifer wt discount subtracts pounds from the heifer side only. Steers keep the full weaning weight. At 0, both sides use that weaning weight, so a 50/50 split does not change total pounds. Raise the discount and payweight per cow falls, so the breakeven goes up.
Cull cow income comes off the top. It is not a calf price. The identity is annual cow cost, minus that credit per cow, divided by pounds of calf sold. The calves only have to cover what the cull check did not.
A weaning weight you can compare across the bunch is the 205-day weight calculator. When those calves are due is calving date. How many pairs the grass can carry is stocking rate. Pricing a finished steer in the freezer, instead of a weaned calf, is freezer beef.
Questions
What is a cow-calf breakeven price?
The calf price per hundredweight that covers what it cost to keep the cow for the year, after any cull-cow credit, on the pounds of calf you actually sell. It is a planning number for the calf check, not a profit target.
How do I figure the calf price per cwt I need to break even?
Enter cows, annual cost per cow, weaning weight, and calf crop percent, then Calculate. Pounds of calf per cow are weaning weight times calf crop. Breakeven per cwt is cost per cow, minus cull credit, divided by those pounds, times 100. On the defaults — 30 cows, $900, 550 lb, 85% weaned, no culls — this calculator prints $192.51/cwt.
What is TAMU's "necessary calf price"?
The same identity this page uses: cost per cow, minus cull credit, divided by pounds of calf sold per cow. That is the TAMU first-cut planning number for what the calves have to bring. It is not a full ranch budget.
Does cull cow income lower my breakeven?
Yes. Cull income is credited per cow before the calf price is figured, so it comes off the top. On the 30-cow defaults, culling 15% at 1,100 lb and $120/cwt is a $198 credit per cow, and this calculator prints $150.16/cwt instead of $192.51/cwt. A cull check is not a calf price.
Why does calf crop % move the answer so much?
Pounds sold per cow are weaning weight times the percent weaned. At 85% you are not selling a 550 lb calf per cow. You are selling 467.5 lb, which this calculator rounds to 468 lb on the result. Drop the crop and the same cow cost is spread over fewer pounds, so the breakeven jumps. Open cows and dead calves both sit in that percent.
Is this a full ranch budget?
No. It's a planning number. Land, labor, depreciation, and a full set of enterprise lines are not in the form. Use it to see what the calves have to bring, then punch your own costs in.
Planning only. Same identity as TAMU “necessary calf price”: cost per cow, minus cull credit, divided by pounds of calf sold per cow. Not a full ranch budget.
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Words used here
Calf cropNecessary calf priceBody condition score (BCS)Shrink
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