While all the talk is about good weanling prices at the moment in suckler circles, there is very little talk about how costs have spiralled on suckler farms in recent years.
Don’t get me wrong, a solid weanling trade is absolutely brilliant for the suckler sector and has given a renewed confidence to suckler farmers looking at replacing stock.
There are some though who believe that suckler farmers continue to play the poor mouth, even when the weanling trade is going strong.
There are three Ps in profit on a suckler farm: price, production costs and animal performance.
Production costs is the one I had a look at this week with particular reference to autumn-calving suckler cows. Feed costs have a massive bearing on the cost of keeping a suckler cow.
Based on a six-month winter, a suckler cow will eat about eight tonnes of pit silage or nine bales for the winter, or €320.
A cow calving in September will need meal to keep condition up and to get her back in calf, so there is €75/head attributed to meal costs for the cow.
The grazing cost of an autumn-calving suckler cow is debatable. On many autumn-calving farms, these cows are put out to rough pasture as dry cows for the summer and are easily maintained with little fertiliser going out on this ground. They still have to eat, however, and there is a cost to producing that grass. This cost is in at €200/cow. Total feed costs come to €595/cow.
Table 2 outlines the vet costs which come to €80. If certain vaccines or interventions aren’t being completed, they can be omitted from your costs.
Other costs include straw which has risen significantly in recent years. A bale of straw is now €40 or more delivered to the west, so there is a cost of €60/cow going into bed creeps/calve cows during the winter.
Table 4 outlines the autumn-born calf costs.
The autumn-born weanling, which calves on 1 September, is generally weaned going out and so has grazing costs, meal and health costs associated with them for the summer. This comes in at a total of €178/head.
Bull and replacement cost
People often forget about bull cost and cow replacement costs. If you purchase a bull at €4,000 and it costs €500/year to keep him, that’s a total cost of €6,000.
Take off the salvage value of €2,000 and divide what you have left by 125 (25 cows x five years) and that leaves you with €36/cow breeding costs. A bigger cost is the replacement cost. If you purchase a two-year-old in-calf heifer at €3,000 and sell her as a cull cow in five years’ time at €2000, that’s a replacement cost of €1,000. Divided by five years, that’s €200/head.
If your cows last longer, the replacement cost goes down. This brings the total cost of keeping an autumn-calving suckler cow to €1,159 which, when the autumn calf costs of €178 are added in, brings the total cost of keeping the cow to €1,337.
A calf born on 1 September, being sold on 15 August gaining 1.2kg/day lifetime gain, could have a potential weight of 464kg so would need to make €2.88/kg to break even or €3.31/kg to leave a €200/head margin.
Suckler costs have increased in recent years.Feed remains the largest cost on a suckler farm at €595/head.Breeding costs come in at €36/cow.Replacement costs could be as high as €200/cow.Total costs come in at €1,337/cow.
While all the talk is about good weanling prices at the moment in suckler circles, there is very little talk about how costs have spiralled on suckler farms in recent years.
Don’t get me wrong, a solid weanling trade is absolutely brilliant for the suckler sector and has given a renewed confidence to suckler farmers looking at replacing stock.
There are some though who believe that suckler farmers continue to play the poor mouth, even when the weanling trade is going strong.
There are three Ps in profit on a suckler farm: price, production costs and animal performance.
Production costs is the one I had a look at this week with particular reference to autumn-calving suckler cows. Feed costs have a massive bearing on the cost of keeping a suckler cow.
Based on a six-month winter, a suckler cow will eat about eight tonnes of pit silage or nine bales for the winter, or €320.
A cow calving in September will need meal to keep condition up and to get her back in calf, so there is €75/head attributed to meal costs for the cow.
The grazing cost of an autumn-calving suckler cow is debatable. On many autumn-calving farms, these cows are put out to rough pasture as dry cows for the summer and are easily maintained with little fertiliser going out on this ground. They still have to eat, however, and there is a cost to producing that grass. This cost is in at €200/cow. Total feed costs come to €595/cow.
Table 2 outlines the vet costs which come to €80. If certain vaccines or interventions aren’t being completed, they can be omitted from your costs.
Other costs include straw which has risen significantly in recent years. A bale of straw is now €40 or more delivered to the west, so there is a cost of €60/cow going into bed creeps/calve cows during the winter.
Table 4 outlines the autumn-born calf costs.
The autumn-born weanling, which calves on 1 September, is generally weaned going out and so has grazing costs, meal and health costs associated with them for the summer. This comes in at a total of €178/head.
Bull and replacement cost
People often forget about bull cost and cow replacement costs. If you purchase a bull at €4,000 and it costs €500/year to keep him, that’s a total cost of €6,000.
Take off the salvage value of €2,000 and divide what you have left by 125 (25 cows x five years) and that leaves you with €36/cow breeding costs. A bigger cost is the replacement cost. If you purchase a two-year-old in-calf heifer at €3,000 and sell her as a cull cow in five years’ time at €2000, that’s a replacement cost of €1,000. Divided by five years, that’s €200/head.
If your cows last longer, the replacement cost goes down. This brings the total cost of keeping an autumn-calving suckler cow to €1,159 which, when the autumn calf costs of €178 are added in, brings the total cost of keeping the cow to €1,337.
A calf born on 1 September, being sold on 15 August gaining 1.2kg/day lifetime gain, could have a potential weight of 464kg so would need to make €2.88/kg to break even or €3.31/kg to leave a €200/head margin.
Suckler costs have increased in recent years.Feed remains the largest cost on a suckler farm at €595/head.Breeding costs come in at €36/cow.Replacement costs could be as high as €200/cow.Total costs come in at €1,337/cow. 
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