1999 Business Analysis Summary For Beef Farms

Farm types were assigned using the 1992 Census of Agriculture's Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) definitions. Basically, any farm with 50 percent or more of value of farm sales from one item becomes a farm of that type. Beef farms have 50 percent or more of value of combined sales from calves, feeders, stockers and cull breeding stock. This report is a summary of the financial and production records kept by beef farmers enrolled in the Telfarm/MicroTel record program through Michigan State University Extension, or were accounting clients of AgriSolutions in Michigan, or of Farm Credit Services of Escanaba. Farm records were included if a Finan summary was completed on 1999 data including beginning and ending balance sheets, plus income and expenses. The summary was included if cash discrepancy was less than 10% of gross cash inflow, and if the debt discrepancy was less than $1,000. The averages are reported in the tables below; it should be recognized that considerable variability exist in the data. All farms grew crops in addition to growing or feeding beef. The unweighted mean of acres cropped was 548 acres; the standard deviation of the mean was 338 acres and the median was 492. The unweighted mean of the net farm income for all eight (8) farms was $67,532. The standard deviation of the mean was $51,674 and the median was $54,935 for net farm income. This report has three purposes: 1) to provide statistical information about the financial results on beef farms during 1999; 2) to provide production costs for comparative analysis and forward planning; and 3) to provide information on the trends in resource use, income and costs during the last few years. However, the only other recent beef report is Staff Paper 97-33, Business Analysis Summary for Beef Farms, which contains averages of 8 beef farms for 1996. This staff paper is available from the author at http://www.msu.edu/user/nott