RANCHING Business
No More Surprises Spreadsheet tracks production and expenses, eliminates tax-time unknowns By Gary DiGiuseppe
A
SPREADSHEET INITIALLY DEVELOPED FOR HIS OWN FAMILY ranch by Dr. Jason Banta, Texas AgriLife Exten- sion beef cattle specialist, can help you do your
taxes, manage your herd, rein in expenses and more. “Initially, it was just some spreadsheet developed
for use for us, for production information as well as for expense and income information,” says Banta, a Texas A&M associate professor of animal science based at the Research and Extension Center at Overton. After the instructions, the spreadsheet has 5 tabs
— Inventory, Breeding and Calving, Cow Records, Expenses and Income.
Inventory tab “I developed the inventory section just for us so at
the end of the year, I could easily calculate how many cattle I had throughout the year,” Banta says. “You may have started with 135 head at the begin-
ning of the year, and then at the end of the year you may be at 127 head, but how does that average out? Did you bring some cattle in? When did you cull?” The inventory tab was designed to provide an easy
way to keep a running herd inventory. Banta says most people will include only producing cows and will draft
40 The Cattleman June 2014
a separate worksheet for replacement heifers or bulls. At the bottom of the spreadsheet, a formula is included to calculate the average number of cows in the herd through the year. Banta said the tab is set up so each day you can
enter a head count and the spreadsheet will automati- cally total it at the end of the year. When you get ready to calculate expenses for the
herd at the end of the year, the spreadsheet lets you know exactly what you had through the whole year. In addition, if you have a loss claim with the Farm Ser- vice Agency under the Livestock Indemnity Program in the new Farm Bill or need to fi le other paperwork where head counts are a necessity, the information is right at your fi ngertips.
Breeding and calving tab Banta says the second tab, for breeding and calv-
ing data, is one of the more important ones from his perspective. It’s designed to help keep track of calving seasons, pregnancy rate and weaning rate. He explains that to know how well your operation performs from a production standpoint, you need your percentage of weaned calves. To get that, you have to know how
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