This calculator evaluates the economic opportunity from preconditioning by providing a summary of estimated net returns and projected breakeven price premiums of three different precondition programs.
More information is available in the Canfax Research Services fact sheet: Economic Considerations on Preconditioning Calves [English version | French version] (September 2015).
Preconditioning & Backgrounding Calculator
1. General Information |
|
|---|---|
|
– Choose your region from the drop-down list. – In the yellow cells, enter weaning date and weaning weight. |
|
| Region | |
| Weaning Date | |
| Weaning Weight (lbs) | |
2. Selling at Weaning |
|
|---|---|
|
– In the yellow cells – enter shrink% and your projection of calf price at the estimated marketing time. – Gross revenue under traditional management will be calculated automatically. |
|
| Marketing Time | |
| Marketing Weight (lbs) | |
| Shrink (%) | |
| Pay Weight (lbs) | |
| Projected Price ($/cwt) | |
| Traditional Gross Revenue ($/head) | |
3. Preconditioning/Backgrounding Program |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Precondition/Backgrounding Program |
|||||
|
– Check the box in green cell if use same animal performance and cost figures for all feeding period scenarios. – In the yellow cells – enter the length of backgrounding period, target ADG (average daily gains) and projected Shrink %. – Marketing time and weights will be calculated automatically. |
|||||
|
|
|||||
| Backgrounding Period (days) | |||||
| Marketing Time | |||||
| ADG (lbs/day) | |||||
| Weight gain (lbs/head) | |||||
| Marketing weight (lbs/head) | |||||
| Shrink (%) | |||||
| Pay Weight (lbs) | |||||
|
|
|||||
Preconditioning/Backgrounding Costs |
|||||
|
– Check the box in green cell if use same cost figures for all feeding period scenarios. – In the yellow cells, enter backgrounding costs; total backgrounding costs per head, and cost per head per day will be calculated automatically. – The breakdown of cost per head, and cost composition for each scenario are show in the pie charts below. |
|||||
|
|
|||||
| Feed, hay, and pasture ($/day/head) | |||||
| Medicine and veterinary care ($/head) | |||||
| Yardage(labor and equipment) ($/day/head) | |||||
| Interest rate (%) | |||||
| Death loss (%) | |||||
| Additional marketing costs (tags, commission, etc.) ($/head) | |||||
| Total Backgrounding Cost ($/head) | |||||
| Total Backgrounding Cost ($/head/day) | |||||
4. Projected Price after Preconditioning/Backgrounding |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
– In the yellow cells, choose the month of price used from the drop-down list – Enter prices for weight categories in the above line (this could be the latest monthly average prices known when making decision) – Projected prices based on a 5-year (2016-20) seasonal index will be automatically calculated (blue cells), you can choose to use these projected prices or enter your own projection – Check the box in green cell to use seasonally adjusted price as sale price – Uncheck the box in green cell to enter your own projected sale price in the yellow cells – For more information on price projection and livestock price insurance coverage, check out the free Canfax app CFX Pro at https://cfxproapp.canfax.ca – Uncheck the box in green cell to enter your own projected sale price in the yellow cells |
|||||
| Pay weight(lbs) | |||||
| Month of Price Used ($/cwt) (select from drop-down list) | |||||
| Index of base month | |||||
| Sale Month | |||||
| Index of sale month | |||||
| Projected Sale Price Seasonally adjusted ($/cwt) | |||||
| Your projected sale price |
Use prices above |
||||
| Backgrounding Gross Revenue ($/head) | |||||
5. Results |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
– Gross revenues at weaning, total backgrounding costs and backgrounding gross revenue are calculated in Step 2 to 4. – Net return from backgrounding is calculated as additional revenue from backgrounding versus sell at weaning less total backgrounding cost. – Estimated breakeven price is the price needed to breakeven on backgrounding |
||||
| Gross Revenue at Weaning ($/head) | ||||
| Backgrounding Gross Revenue ($/head) | ||||
| Total Backgrounding Cost | ||||
| Net Return from Preconditioning ($/head) | ||||
| Breakeven Selling Prices ($/head) | ||||
| Breakeven Price Premium (%) | ||||
| 6. Lookup(hidden) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Days | 45 Days | 60 Days | |||||||||