VERNON Drought, record cattle prices and a national “Mad Cow” scare made 2003 an interesting year to say the least for cow-calf producers. To survive in this environment, cow-calf producers need to know how their operations are performing, from a production standpoint and from a financial standpoint, said a Texas Cooperative Extension economist.
Cow-calf producers can learn how to gauge their operation’s economic health at a May 5 Standardized Performance Analysis workshop at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center here.
“The goal of this workshop is to help cow-calf operators determine their current financial and production benchmarks,” said Stan Bevers, Extension economist based at Vernon. “This is a working workshop. We will help participants generate and complete their own performance analyses.
The workshop begins at 8:30 a.m. Registration costs $100 per ranch or operation, and includes educational materials, software, lunch and refreshments.
“A standardized performance analysis lets ranchers compare their operation’s performance between years, to that of other operations, by production region and across production systems,” Bevers added. “This workshop will enable ranchers to complete an analysis for their 2003 calf crop.
“Those who register will receive all the forms they need to organize their production and financial data before the workshop. All of this data remains confidential. We will provide an assistant and a computer to help each participant and meet with each one individually to interpret the results of their analysis.
“It is important to register early, so we can advise you on how to organize the data necessary for a good analysis,” Bevers said.
To register or to obtain more information, contact Bevers at (940) 552-9941.
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