Nutrition Notes Do These Cattle Work? We ask ourselves this question nearly every day. And, we don't always have time to fire up our computer and run a projection to answer the question. So it is helpful to have a feel for what kind of cost of gains are associated with various feed prices as well as feeder wrights. While you cannot be completely accurate without running a projection, you can get close enough to be helpful if you keep a few things in mind. Right now, most cattlemen in my area are using $4 on corn since it has up a bit in the last while. In general, if you are using $4 corn and $85 on modified distillers and around $65 on wet distillers (which equates to around $160 DDG), your cost of gain on a 600-lb steer is going to be around $79-80/cwt. This figure includes feed, yardage and interest. From there you just need to know the market weight, let's say 1450-lb. So 1450–600 = 850 lb of gain. Multiply 850x$0.80 COG and you have $680. So if your 600-lb steers cost $275/cwt, you have $1650 invested in the feeder. Adding $680 + $1650 = $2330 total investment. So now we can divide $2330 by 1450 lb and come up with our break-even of $160.69/cwt. This simple calculation gets done every day. Once you establish that the cost of gain on 600-lb steers is $80/cwt of gain, you can vary from there based on body weight and corn price. In general, for every plus or minus 25¢ on corn price, cost of gain will go up or down about $2/cwt. And for every plus or minus 100 lb of feeder weight purchased, your cost of gain will go up or down about $3/cwt. Heifers cost of gain will be about 10% higher than comparable steers. Download PDF Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Related Nutrition Notes Drought Affects Water Quality During periods of drought, concern turns immediately to forage supplies, and rightfully so – cattle need to eat. Water is one of those things that is taken for granted, however,… Read More Derecho Damaged Corn The Derecho damaged an estimated 40 million acres of farm landing, laying fields of corn bent and broken, if not completely flat. This article investigates designing and using cattle grazing… Read More Kent Performance Primer When stress happens it often impacts livestock in more than one way, such as feed intake, maintenance requirements, and even health status. Learn how Kent Performance Primer has proved successful… Read More Want to learn more from KNG research? Give us your email address to be notified when we publish new Nutrition Notes articles.