Assessment of Profitability and Break-Even Points in Suckler Cow Herds

Abstract

Suckler cow enterprises comprise an important segment of Czech agriculture, and the number of suckler cows has been steadily increasing in recent years. The objective of this study was to assess the profitability of suckler cow herds in the Czech Republic based upon data collected for 2014, 2015, and 2016 using a questionnaire covering production, reproduction, and economic traits. The average yearly costs reached 30,583 CZK per cow. When subsidies in the average amount of 14,347 CZK per cow were included, profitability of 8.3, 8.7, and 6.3 % was observed in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. Feed, labour, depreciation, and overheads were the largest cost items and together comprised 66 % of total yearly costs. The data obtained proved the economy of scale. Average breakeven points were determined for the number of weaned calves, calving interval, and selling price of calves (75 calves, 465 days, and 56 CZK / kg live weight, respectively). A sensitivity analysis identified the number of weaned calves, price of calves, calving interval, and amount of subsidies as the most influential parameters.

Economic weights of current and new breeding objective traits in Aberdeen Angus

“…The economic input parameters were obtained through an investigation of AA farms (unpublished data). In the study, the average annual value of subsidies at €545 per cow (Syrucek et al 2018) and an exchange rate of 25.64 CZK per € were applied. The cow herd structure in the stationary state is presented in Figure 1.…”