Making a case for creative marketing
And as we’ve been updating some of our Black Ink Basics Tech Sheets with current numbers, we’re still convinced that’s a good idea.
(Side note: If you love data, you’ll have a ball checking out the whole tech sheet library on the right-hand side of our Educator’s Corner. There is research on everything from health to genetics to disposition.)
We’re still tweaking two that have to do with the Angus premiums on calves and profit differences on finished animals in the feedyard.
Here are the basics:
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At auction we recorded a $5.30 per-hundredweight (cwt.) premium in Angus over non-Angus. That is significant.
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At the same time, profit differences between pens of cattle in a given feedlot consistently run at about $200/head.
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Using the Professional Cattle Consultants‘ 734-lb. average placement weight, that translates to a $27/cwt. difference on a feeder-calf basis.
“In other words, this difference in profitability should translate into much bigger differences in value, or premiums, on the feeder calf,” Mark says. “If only we knew which calves to give those premiums and discounts.”
It’s no secret we’re short on calves and the pure demand for ANY calf to fill the pen may have compressed those values in recent years. Yet the Angus advantage has increased over the years as supply of all calves declined.
So what are you to make of this data?
Cow-calf producers: it’s just a good reminder that we need to keep being creative and evolve our feeder calf marketing system.
Cattle feeders: as you well know, there is incredible value in knowing genetic potential at the time the feeder calf is priced.
May your bottom line be filled with black ink,
Miranda
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