Document Type

Report

Report Number

2005-9

Publication Date

2005

Keywords

profitability, cow-calf, great plains, enterprise, marketing management

Summary

One hundred and forty eight privately owned and operated cow-calf enterprises were surveyed for their production and financial performance measures and the results analyzed for factors that affected profitability. The results of these analyzes indicate that for cow-calf enterprises in the Northern Great Plains, high levels of profit are a function of lower than average investment, above average reproductive performance, lower than average total expenses, and above average market prices for calves produced. Neither high nor low levels of other biological production, geographical region, size of operation, or year were factors that explained differences in profitability. Profitability measured as Return on Assets (ROA) in the High Profit group (18.16%) was higher (P<0.01) than Medium or Low Profit groups and are very competitive with opportunities available in other sectors of the economy. The profit levels in the Medium and Low Profit groups (2.88% and -15.55%) are not competitive with other opportunities for investment in the economy. The long-term financial viability of the operations in these two groups would be difficult without other sources of income or investment.

Number of Pages

6

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Rights

Copyright © 2005 South Dakota State University

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