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Key Performance Indicator Targets for Beef Cow-calf Operations By Stan Bevers and David Anderson, Texas A&M University System
T
he national beef herd is currently expanding from historically low levels. This expansion and
the possibility of lower prices provide an excellent opportunity for you to review fi nancial performance measurements that are critical to your operation. These measurements are known as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and are based on production and fi nancial data. You can use these KPIs to evaluate different factors that are crucial to the success of your cow-calf operation. They can help any rancher evaluate whether the operation is fulfi lling his or her goals. In a sense, they are a report card that can be used to identify weaknesses in a given operation. [We have identifi ed] thirteen KPIs that every rancher should consider as they start the process of restock- ing their ranch. It is important that you calculate KPIs correctly
and base them on good data. Be honest with yourself. In some instances, ranchers fi nd that their fi nancial
recordkeeping isn’t as good as it should be. The most accurate KPIs are calculated from fi nancial accrual- adjusted records. Remember that no single KPI as- sures success. As with a ranch’s resources, the ranch manager must balance the use of these indicators. To focus on one KPI, at the expense of another, will not improve the overall performance of the ranch. As an example, increasing the pounds weaned per exposed female does no good if the nutritional base expense indicator is too high. KPIs have to be in balance for overall performance to be excellent. Finally, most ranches are involved in multiple enterprises. The KPI’s discussed are strictly for the cow-calf segment of a ranch. Target levels for the various KPIs have been identi-
fi ed through analysis of herd data from several sources including hundreds of herds in the Beef Cow-calf SPA and the authors research and experience working with individual ranch owners and managers. ❚
KPI 1: Pounds Weaned per Exposed Female — Greater than 460 pounds per Exposed Female
The primary objective of owning breeding beef fe-
males is to wean calves. As simple as this may sound, it bears repeating: From a production standpoint, the pounds of weaned calf per exposed female is perhaps the most important Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Each operation will accomplish this in a way
that suits their size, location and overall objectives. However, regardless of operational differences, the number of calves weaned and how heavy they are serves as a good indicator of the profi tability of that ranch, say Stan Bevers and David Anderson, professors and Extension Economists, Texas A&M University System. “Calves weaned per exposed cow” has been identi-
fi ed as an extremely important variable in the measure of performance and profi tability. First, it is a measure of the fertility of the cow herd. This value determines the year-to-year percentage of cows in the herd that have live calves. Next, it measures the survivability of the calves born. An easy way to calculate this KPI is to divide the total pounds of weaned calves by the total number of
74 The Cattleman January 2017
exposed cows that were intended for breeding. A high weaning percentage begins with a high pregnancy rate followed by a high calving rate. The most important determinants for weaning weights are weather and days of age, even more important than genetics and management. To solve low pounds weaned per exposed female, a rancher should look fi rst at reproduction rates, not at increasing weaning rates. At some point, it’s important to outline the method-
ology to use when evaluating the reproductive perfor- mance of the cow herd. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association developed and adopted the Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) measures to evaluate the biological performance of the cow herd. It’s important to remember that it is not the values
of one year that establish the information for decision- making, but the trend or direction of the values over a period of 5 or more years. Several of the variables that are of interest for cow
herd performance are: • Calves weaned per exposed female — using the total number of live calves weaned divided by
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