Review: Economic Evaluation of Cost-Cutting Forage Strategies for Cow-Calf Operations on Improved Pastures

Recent volatility in farm input prices creates financial challenges for cow-calf producers, but it is the expectation of significant changes in the relative prices of inputs that creates the incentive to change production practices or even production systems. The diversity in resources, goals, financial performance, and financial health among cow-calf operators and operations leads to the conclusion that few, if any, practices can be generally recommended. Information about production practices should be offered as a menu of choices, to be evaluated for practicality, profitability, and financial feasibility for each individual farm or ranch situation. Partial and enterprise budgeting are fairly simple and useful tools for evaluating the profitability of alternative forage crops and forage production and management practices. Examples are provided to illustrate the potential impact on profitability. Producers can benefit from collaboration between production and financial advisors.