Decision Tools and Software
These tools assist beef, small ruminant, and swine producers in making the best financial choices for your operations.
Contents
(Top)
Beef: Enterprise Budget and Worksheets
Beef: Direct Marketing Tools
Small Ruminants: Enterprise Budget
Swine: Direct Marketing
Feed Inventory, Pricing, and Comparison Tools
Hay
Corn Silage
Feed Cost Comparison
Small Grains
Feed Inventory
Beef: Enterprise Budgets and Worksheets
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-19-2024
This Calculator is intended to help producers quickly determine gestation length and expected calving dates for Artificial Insemination (AI) and natural service breeding. The calculator contains four sections:
- Breeding Date Calculator
- Date to Breed for Desired Calving Date
- Breeding Dates Based on Beginning Calving Season and Length
- Calving Date and Breeding Cycle
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 12-04-2020
The Beef Replacement Heifer spreadsheet tool is designed to help producers calculate their cost of raising replacement heifers from weaning to calving. It calculates costs from weaning until the group of heifers calve into the cow-calf enterprise. It provides farmers with information for benchmarking and making informed management decisions for raising replacement heifers, and making decisions to retain ownership of calves versus purchasing replacements.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-30-2025
The Beef Stocker Closeout spreadsheet is designed to help producers who graze stocker calves (weaned calves on pasture) calculate their cost of production and determine profit or loss for each group of stocker calves. It is intended to be used after a group of calves is marketed to evaluate performance and profitability of that group. It provides farmers with information for benchmarking and making informed management decisions for the stocker enterprise.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-30-2025
The Herd Size Growth Evaluator spreadsheet is designed to help beef cow calf producers estimate herd size changes based upon heifer retention rate, purchase of replacements females, and herd culling rate. Users have the option to project future herd growth based upon percent of the herd, or on a per head basis. It provides farmers with information for making informed beef cow calf herd management decisions.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 03-17-2021
The Feedlot Closeout spreadsheet is designed to help producers calculate their cost of production and determine profit or loss for a group of cattle they have fed out, or backgrounded in a drylot management system. It is intended to be used after a group of calves is marketed to evaluate performance and profitability of that group. It provides farmers with information for benchmarking and making informed management decisions for the feedlot enterprise.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-30-2025
The Beef Stocker Enterprise spreadsheet is designed to help producers who graze stocker calves (weaned calves on pasture) to project their cost of production, profit or loss, and breakeven prices for stocker calves on a per head basis. It is intended to be used before a group of calves is purchased (or ownership retained) to budget for that group. It provides farmers with information for making informed management decisions for the stocker enterprise.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 11-21-2025
The Cow-Calf Enterprise spreadsheet is designed to help producers calculate profit or loss, both past actuals and future projections, for a beef cow calf enterprise. It is intended to be used for annual budgeting, and to project herd performance, profitability, and breakeven prices. It provides farmers with information for making informed management decisions for the cow calf enterprise.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-30-2025
The Yardage Calculator spreadsheet is used to calculate yardage costs for the feedlot enterprise. Users input information to calculate their overhead costs; which include equipment and facility leases, equipment and facility depreciation, labor, and related operational costs excluding feed and cattle values. It provides users with the feedlot’s yardage expense per head, per day for making informed decisions regarding feedlot management.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-30-2025
The Feedlot Enterprise Spreadsheet Tool is designed to help producers calculate profit or loss projections for a group of cattle they have on feed, or plan to purchase and place on feed on a per head basis. It is intended to be used before a group of calves is placed on feed (purchased or retained ownership) to project their performance, profitability, and breakeven prices. It provides farmers with information for making informed management decisions for the feedlot enterprise.
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 08-15-2022
This spreadsheet is intended to help producers analyze their natural service bull expenses per cow or heifer exposed for the breeding season.
Beef: Direct Marketing Tools
Filetype: .xlsx
Updated: 10-2024
This spreadsheet is intended to help buyers and sellers determine sale prices for direct marketing wholes, haves, or quarters of grain-fed beef animals. This spreadsheet can be utilized to calculate estimated returns for beef producers, as well as for beef producers to communicate with their buyers on the economics of purchasing beef direct from farm.
Small Ruminants: Enterprise Budget
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 11-21-2025
This Enterprise Budget is intended to be a practical approach for producers to evaluate the profitability of their ewe flock enterprise. It may also be used to assist with estimating projections for future years or changes to the enterprise.
Swine: Direct Marketing
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-19-2024
This spreadsheet/worksheet can be used to help buyers and sellers determine sale prices for direct marketing of grain fed market hogs.
Feed Inventory, Pricing, and Comparison Tools
Hay
Filetype: .xls
Updated: –
This Decision Aid is used to determine a fair price for buying or selling standing perennial forage crops. Crop input expenses for growing the crop, harvest costs, and market value of the feed are input by the user to calculate price ranges for buying or selling.
Filetype: Android
Updated: –
Provides easy access to current hay price information for the Midwest. The app quickly calculates a standing value per acre for each cutting, as well as the entire growing season, based on individual yield and harvest cost estimates.
Filetype: iOS
Updated: –
Provides easy access to current hay price information for the Midwest. The app quickly calculates a standing value per acre for each cutting, as well as the entire growing season, based on individual yield and harvest cost estimates.
Corn Silage
Filetype: .xlsm
Updated: 06-11-2024
The Corn Silage Pricing Decision Spreadsheet is designed to provide a range in prices (price minimum for seller and price max for buyer). Users can input expected corn grain yield and silage harvest moisture to estimate the as fed tons of silage to be harvested. To increase accuracy, growers can enter their actual yield if known. Cash grain and low protein forage prices are used as reference feeds to estimate a feed value.
Feed Cost Comparison
Filetype: .xlsx
Updated: 04-30-2025
The Feed Cost Comparison spreadsheet aids producers in comparing prices for multiple feedstuffs based on Crude Protein and TDN (energy). Corn is used as the benchmark energy feedstuff, and 44% Soybean Meal as the protein benchmark. Feeds are ranked by color coding by the spreadsheet relative to each other on prices based on user inputs, as Green (good $ value), Yellow (middle range) or Red (poorer $ value). It provides farmers with information for making informed decisions to formulate their most economical ration.
Hay Corn Substitution Calculator for Beef Cow Winter Rations
Filetype: .xls
Updated: In the process of being revised/updated
The Hay Corn Substitution Calculator aids in determining a comparative $ value of the TDN (energy) value of hay compared to a range of corn prices. It is used for determining if it is economical to substitute some hay feeding with corn for the beef cow-calf herd. This can be of importance when hay supplies are short, hay prices are high, and/or corn prices are comparatively low.
Small Grains
Filetype: .xls
Updated: 04-19-2024
This Decision Aid is used to determine a fair price for buying or selling standing small grain for forage. Crop input expenses for growing the crop, harvest costs, and market value of the feed are input by the user to calculate price ranges for buying or selling.
Feed Inventory
Filetype: .xlsx
Updated: 8/14/2025
The forage inventory and needs tool helps farmers determine baled and ensiled forage inventories and forage needs and helps determine if there are shortages or surpluses of various forages. It is comprised of a set of complimentary spreadsheet tools that assist with estimating various baled forage inventories and tools to calculate silage inventories in commonly used storage structures. Forage needs are determined by entering planned ration information for the herd through the forage feeding season. It also includes an intake estimator that will provide an estimated daily intake if forage is provided free choice for animals.
