What calf price do you need to break even on a cow?

Enter what a cow costs you in a year and what her calf weighs and sells for. You get your margin per cow, your breakeven price per hundredweight, the weight or weaning rate that would break even instead, and what hay price does to all of it.

Your numbers, not advice. Prices, costs and weaning rates are yours to check; every value is editable. Nothing is uploaded: inputs are used in this browser tab only.

Your herd, per year

Cows exposed Hay per cow (tons) Hay price per ton ($) Supplement per cow ($) Pasture per cow ($) Health per cow ($) Bull cost per cow ($) Labor and equipment per cow ($) Other per cow ($) Replacement rate (%) Replacement cow cost ($) Cull cow weight (lb) Cull cow price ($/cwt) Calves weaned per cow exposed (%) Weaning weight (lb) Calf price ($/cwt)

One cow, one year

Line	Per cow exposed

If the calf price moves

Calf price per cwt	Margin per cow	Margin, whole herd

If the hay price moves

Hay per ton	Cost per cow	Margin per cow	Breakeven per cwt

If more calves are weaned

Weaned per cow exposed	Margin per cow	Breakeven per cwt

Weigh your own bales and count your own open cows. A margin built on a best-year weaning rate is the most common reason a herd looks better on paper than at the bank.

What's recognised

Input	Handling

More: Breakeven calf price per cwt: what a cow really costs, and why hay and weaning rate decide it.

Common questions

What does it cost to keep a cow a year?

On the default numbers $830 per cow exposed: $280 of hay (2 tons at $140), $200 of pasture, and the rest supplement, health, bull, labor, other costs and the net cost of replacing culled cows. Hay is the largest line at 33.7 percent. Enter your own figures; the defaults are invented.

What calf price do I need to break even?

$171.49 per hundredweight on the calves you wean, at 88 percent weaned and 550 lb. At your own weaning rate and weight the calculator finds the price where margin is zero, and the weight you would need at your current price.

How much does hay price matter?

Every $10 per ton on 2 tons per cow is $20 per cow. At double the default hay price the margin falls from $380 to $100 per cow and the breakeven price rises to $229.34 per cwt.

Is this advice or market data?

No. It does arithmetic on the numbers you type. Prices, costs and weaning rates are yours to check, nothing is uploaded, and it is not financial or veterinary advice.