Many of us are feeling the pinch of increased input prices this year. Add market instability into the equation and it makes for a difficult decision-making process buying stocker or backgrounder calves in 2022. Use these tips to identify leverage points in your stocker/backgrounder business.

Have you ever sat down and figured out what it costs to breed a cow? It might seem like an easy number to calculate, since we can add up all of our natural service bull purchases and subtract out the salvage value of any bulls sold.

Cow cash lease and cow-calf share lease agreements are a way for individuals to join forces to leverage resources in the production of weaned calves.

Sunk cost fallacy: A tendency for people to irrationally follow through on an activity that is not meeting their expectations because of the time and/or money already invested.

Weather is one of the most important factors affecting producers’ selection of calving season. This is closely linked to forage and feed availability. This undoubtedly creates a regional pattern in calving season across the nation.

Imagine you are playing a betting game and you have brought $20 you are willing to bet. The odds for the game are 4 to 1. If you aren’t familiar with fractional odds, this means that winning the bet would make you 4 x $20, or $80.

If you’ve purchased any supplies lately – maybe a few two-by-fours or sacks of feed – then you probably had a reaction that went something like this: “Wow! What’s in that lumber or those feed sacks?”