The Cattle Business Weekly
For cattlemen, by cattlemen is this podcast bringing you the latest in cattle industry headlines straight from the news desk of The Cattle Business Weekly in South Dakota. It's a dose of what's happening in markets, on the ranch and in Washington, D.C. It's news about everything that impacts a cattle operation's bottomline (aka profit). Listen to us in the feed truck, on the way to a cattle sale or on the porch with a beer! We promise you won't go away without having learned something.
The Cattle Business Weekly
Buying ranch equipment: Is it needed or just nice to have?
For a cow-calf enterprise, the second- or third-largest expense after grazed and harvested feed is often overhead expenses related to labor and equipment. In ranching, an overhead expense is one that doesn’t change much based on the number of cows that are in production. For example, the pickup, tractor, ATV, trailer, feeding equipment and working facilities used to care for 150 cows would also likely be adequate to care for 500 cows. On a cost-per-cow-unit basis, spreading that equipment cost over 500 cows versus 150 cows drastically reduces the equipment cost per cow. This is commonly referred to as...