Why do people have cattle if its so unprofitable?

[miket]

I have done a bit of reading about the profitability of raising cattle and the consensus seems to be that there is no money in it. Read somewhere that the typical cow/calf operstion loses 4% a year. Other numbers I have read are average of $26 profit per cow. So my question is, why do so many still do it? So many people have 20-100+ acres and put cattle on it. Assuming they make the supposed $26 cow, we are looking at maybe $500/yr profit? Can hardly imagine it being worth it. I get the whole ag exempt thing, but that cant be all of it, especially now thet we can get the wildlife exemption.

If your land is payed off/free, is it even worth the trouble to put them on 100-150ac?

[sideways]

Tax break


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[MBV77]

Ag exemptions. Had 5 steers on 90 acres from April to end of August this year and they made $1,300. It was a good wet, Green year.


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[RiverRat1]

IMO they make closer to $400-500 per calf when sold in net profit. Still not enough for me.. But the cattle guy I know runs cows on 10+ properties and the smallest property has 25 cows on it.. So 250-300 times $400 each adds up
He may make less IDK I was just guessing. He swears he doesn't make much and does it because it's the only thing he's ever done since the 1940's and he'd much rather spend time with his cows than people LOL

[doghouse]

Ag exemption. Can you imagine the fall in land prices if the government took all the exemptions off of it. You can have 2 million in a CD and no tax. Two million in land you get property taxes. What is the difference? Just curious.

[James]

Tax benefits

[doghouse]

IMO they make closer to $400-500 per calf when sold in net profit. Still not enough for me.. But the cattle guy I know runs cows on 10+ properties and the smallest property has 25 cows on it.. So 250-300 times $400 each adds up
He may make less IDK I was just guessing. He swears he doesn't make much and does it because it's the only thing he's ever done since the 1940's and he'd much rather spend time with his cows than people LOL

I can guarantee no cattle rancher is making that much per calf. Meat packers are but not the bottom man, the producer.

[M16]

I'd like to know one thing. Why don't the sale barns have to 1099 the people who sell cattle?

[RiverRat1]

I can guarantee no cattle rancher is making that much per calf. Meat packers are but not the bottom man, the producer.

So how much they make then? The guy in post 3 made $250 each.

[doghouse]

I can't imagine all the paper work for every sale at any market. Cattle, sheep, goats, exoctics, etc. Ranchers do get audited from time to time.

[S-3 Ranch]

Slippery slope

Most of the places I have worked on, don’t make money off cattle, they use them to hide/ off set the , money they make off minerals , pipelines, and high hunting lease fees, cattle ranches can only survive on their side hustles

[KNEE DEEP]

Numbers game. More cattle-more money you make.

[M16]

So how much they make then? The guy in post 3 made $250 each.

It depends on how the operation is run. I do fairly well with mine since I don't lease any land. I run a lot fewer head per acre than everybody around. But I don't spend a bunch of money on hay and vet bills. They either make it or they don't. I go by what an old successful cattleman told me. Those cows need to make me a living, they're not here for me to make them a living.

[wickll]

So how much they make then? The guy in post 3 made $250 each.

I am not sure how he figured his profits, but maybe he can chime in. Guessing he simply figured the initial costs taken from his selling price.

Other things to consider, land costs , electric costs (water well??) hauling, fencing depreciation, land tax. Capital costs ( money tied up in the cattle vs. earning a profit in other investments ), Not to mention the risk if one or more had died. Finally labor.

[GA Bowhunter]

We have a local cattle rancher. He is buying up land at $25,000 per acre and then clearing the land, having ponds built, installing irrigation for his grass(huge turret guns) and fencing it.

He will never make a dime on cows in this lifetime but chicken has made him a billionaire. If I was him I would be building chicken houses not cattle ranches.