Is feeding steers worth it?
Here are some additional resources to compliment the September 25, 2011 issue of Hoard's Dairyman. This information contains reports and worksheets.
Wisconsin Beef Information Center
Feedlot yardage calculator (will open Excel spreadsheet)
Feedlot Enterprise Budget Worksheet (will open Excel spreadsheet)
Feedlot Closeout Worksheet (will open Excel spreadsheet)
Feedlot Cost of Gain Assessment (will open pdf file)
FINBIN Information
Benchmarks for the highest 20 percent of steer finishers
Benchmarks for all dairy steer finishers
Benchmarks for the lowest 20 percent of steer finishers
Create your own benchmarks with FINBIN, at http://www.finbin.umn.edu. They have information available for whole farms, crops, livestock, and dairies.
To create steer reports, click on Livestock on the left side.
Select "Dairy Steers Finishing" in the Livestock Enterprise pull-down menu.
Select your other metrics as you desire.
Only select years 2009 and/or 2010, or the report will result in an error.
Finally, click "Click Here to Generate Report."
Other benchmark information has more than just 2009 and 2010 as options.