Suggesting that everyone could benefit from using a particular accounting technique is risky. It would have to simplify a job that “everyone” needs to do and save “everyone” a lot of time.

The cost to raise a heifer from birth to freshening is hard to calculate. You don’t actually write a check for every replacement heifer expense.

The past year has confirmed one lesson for many of us in the dairy business: Not one of us holds a crystal ball to see the future. However, for many farming operations, a golden ticket is within reach.

For decades, our accounting firm has produced quarterly dairy farm cost studies for our dairy clients and others to use for benchmarking and profitability improvement.

No matter how well you budget or how efficiently you manage your farm business, there may be periods in which cash flow is negative. No one knows for sure when these periods will occur, and how long they will last, but every operation should have a financial contingency plan to provide for unexpected cash-flow shortfalls.