Cost of cattle?

Question

I am writing an essay on the economic impact wolves will have on ranchers when introduced to Colorado. Does anyone know roughly how much money a rancher loses for each cow that is lost?

Answer 1

check the USDA website:
www.usda.gov
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ldp/2006/12Dec/LDPM150Tables.pdf
this link shows the commodity costs (page 4) it look like the price is just about 1 dollar/lb
the average cow is approximately 1100 pounds, a farmer would lose 1100 per cow lost.

Good luck with your essay!

Edit: With respect to what Don said, it is true, my estimation is a very crude approximation, but you can look further into the data. However, saying that a cow is not worth the same isn't necessarily true. If you lose a cow, you lose more than just the cow. You also lose all of the calfs the cow would have in its lifetime. There are more longterm affects, however for the purpose of your essay I think the crude estimate of approxiamtely $1100 per lost cow.

Answer 2

The answer by the guy with USDA information is good but not complete. What you need to know is that ranchers lose different amounts depending on what it killed. If a cow is killed a rancher would lose less because cows are for breeding and not wouth the 1 a pound that the young steers are because that is what is sent to market. Usually the cows and calfs are on the range and they are the ones the wolves get to. The steers (the dollar a pound animals) are usually in feed lots that are very well protected with gates so the wolves are not likely to get to them. The USDA sight might hae listings of how much cows could be worth per pound and also look up the same for calves.

Answer 3

Cost of 750# steers $855.00
Cost of gain for 500# 70 cwt $350.00
Sales price of 1250# steers 95 cwt $1,187.50

Here if say a dog got onto your ranch and killed a young calf the owner of the dog would have to pay the price of a full grown steer/bull/cow. So, they'd have to pay anywhere from $900 to $1200 for each young calf that the dog had killed.

One rancher I know found these dogs with two of his calves. He followed the dogs home and the owner had to pay for two full grown steers.

Most of the time the ranchers here just shoot the dogs and hang their carcass on the fence post so others can see that they are serious about taking care of the problem themselves.