Economics of Developing and Reselling Heifers

This week, Shaye Wanner interviews NDSU livestock development specialist Jon Biermacher about the economics of buying weaned/backgrounded heifers in spring, breeding them, and selling them about a year later as long-bred heifers or as pairs, using an Excel-based enterprise budget tool developed from a student producer’s plan.   The model includes key costs (heifer purchase, pasture/feed/hay/mineral, health, breeding, transport, interest, marketing) and compares AI plus cleanup bulls versus natural service, finding about a $55/head advantage to not using AI (not counting added labor) and little observed revenue premium for AI’d breds. In their projections, pairs returned about $100/head more than bred heifers. Results show costs are dominated by heifer purchase and feed, with profit highly sensitive to purchase price; a ~$0.20/lb increase can erase roughly $200/head projected net return. This conversation is helpful for anyone looking to create projections on their operation with resources from the NDSU team.   Join Rising Ranchers Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/risingranchers  Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/     01:31 Meet John Biermacher  04:54 Defining the Enterprise  06:08 Building the Budget Tool  13:03 Markets and Assumptions  15:04 AI Versus Bulls  19:48 Where the Costs Sit  22:26 Breds Versus Pairs  25:35 Break Evens and Risk  31:47 Tools Beyond Spreadsheets