The ranking may be done by each respective measure, by unit cost of production or by profitability. Be cautious in your comparisons and interpretations. A higher pregnancy rate or a lower feed cost may not be optimal. Optimal management is going to be the proper match of level of production and cost that fits your specific environment. No other term is more misused in the beef cattle sector than the word profit, and there are very few producers that develop financial statements that measure profit.
Profit is net return to business equity.
If you are going to use benchmarks for comparative analysis, it is imperative that your financial statements, and those in the database you are comparing to, truly measure profit or unit cost of production. Cash based financial statements, out of pocket expenses, income tax reports, cash flows, and partial budgets do not measure profit. DeGroff also coordinates Management Information Systems, a consulting service, and he is a part-time instructor for the University of Nebraska, Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center. In the February issue, I led off with a quote, Tradition is production agriculture s greatest handicap. The IRM program could certainly be credited for combating some of that complacency, but those that have benefited the most from IRM are the producers that have kept records, applied the improved management practices and reaped the financial rewards.