Evaluation of Net Returns to Risk and Management in an Intensified Cow-Calf Production System

The increase in population and declining availability of grazing land has created a need for sustainable beef production systems that require less land per unit of production. The study was repeated over 4 years utilizing mature Angus/Hereford cross fall calving cows and 2 management system treatments: Extensive (EXT; 551 ± 12.19 kg at study initiation each year, 6.12 ha of native rangeland/cow-calf unit), and intensive (INT; 560 ± 12.19 kg at study initiation each year, 2.90 ha native rangeland and 0.38 ha cropland per cow-calf unit). Each treatment was replicated 3 times each year with 14 and 18 hd/replication in the EXT and INT respectively. Cattle assigned to EXT were provided no additional forage except during winter storm events and 1.13 kg/hd/day of protein supplementation from Oct-Mar. Cattle assigned to INT consumed prairie hay ad libitum and limit-grazed wheat pasture from Dec-Mar, followed by unlimited access to wheat pasture until mid-April. After wheat grazeout, INT cows were transported back to native rangeland where they remained until mid-June when calves were weaned. Following weaning, INT cows grazed summer annuals established on the cropland. In mid-Aug., INT cows were transported back to the native rangeland for calving where they remained until Dec. To ensure proper accounting of all resources, the "system" is defined as activities that occurred on the land base of 6.12 and 3.28 ha for the EXT and INT treatments respectively, and were separated into 3 enterprises based on INT land use: cow-calf, stocker, and hay. Any activities that occurred outside of the system but were needed for comparison, i.e. EXT stocker pasture, were charged to the system at custom rates. Enterprise net returns/ replication were not different between the two treatments for both the cow-calf and stocker enterprises (P < 0.01). Total system net returns/replication were not different (P = 0.65). However, total net returns/hd were greater in the EXT system (P < 0.01) and total net returns/ha were greater in the INT system (P = 0.02). Incorporation of cropland grazing into a native rangeland management system resulted in economical beef production requiring less land area per unit of beef produced. Profitability of one system compared to the other was lower, no different or greater depending on the unit of measure, emphasizing the need to evaluate beef production systems comprehensively.