Costs and returns calculated for beef producers in 2022

Jun 08, 2023

Editor’s note: The following was written by Bradley Zwilling with Illinois FBFM Association and University of Illinois, for the farmdoc daily website May 19.

Total economic returns in 2022 for Illinois beef feeding enterprises exceeded total costs by $25.41 per 100 pounds of beef produced in preliminary findings for farms enrolled in Illinois Farm Business Farm Management.

The 2022 returns were higher than the 2021 total returns above feed costs of 19 cents per 100 pounds produced. Total returns have exceeded total economic costs in four out of the last 10 years.

The 2022 level of return above all costs was $26.66 per 100 pounds beef produced above the average return above all costs for the 2013 through 2022 period.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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