It seems like 2025 has set a record for the number of records set. From cattle prices to the average margin of victory for the OKC Thunder this season it is easy to be wowed by the numbers. While we enjoy the records, there are still some things happening in the background that we can focus on. For the OKC Thunder, I will save my thoughts for my living room! But on the livestock side, how we navigate our cost position continues to be important as our dollars don’t seem to stretch as far as they did.
Coming up in January, there will be several opportunities to focus on this issue. OSU Extension is hosting multiple cost of production workshops with the commercial cow-calf producer in mind. The workshop will work through a sample cow-calf operation going step by step how to establish an economic cost of production. Along the way, we discuss some difficult to quantify cost areas like overheads and asset purchases. We also get to look at what parts of the operation may contribute the most to the bottom line and what ones might be subtracting from it. Afterwards, attendees will have a framework to apply to their own operations.
The workshop is based on good discussion amongst the producers in attendance and is highly interactive. If you feel like the cost of being in the livestock business might be in record setting territory, this is designed to help you take a closer look. The tables below provide the specifics.
