Calves with Sam

Costs to Raise Heifers

$2,084. Yes, that was the total cost to raise a replacement heifer in New York in 2012.

This recently released report may be found at 

http://ansci.cornell.edu/pdfs/DairyReplaceCost12-3.pdf or click Here.

This summary was posted at the Pro-Dairy website:

Dairy Replacement Programs: Costs & Analysis 3rd Quarter 2012 Published

The analysis of the costs to raise dairy replacements during the 3rd quarter of 2012 are complete, and the final report is now available on the PRO-DAIRY Web site at http://ansci.cornell.edu/prodairy/resources/fbmpubs.html.   This is the fourth time that the costs were reviewed on dairy farms located across New York State. The average total cost to raise the dairy replacement (not including the value of the animal when born) until they entered the herd for each of these studies was: 1993      $1,044 2003      $1,429 2007      $1,734 2012      $2,084 The top five expenses per heifer completing the dairy replacement program for the 3rd quarter of 2012 are:  Feed per Heifer:  $1,112  53.3%  Labor per Heifer:     $252  12.1%  Interest on Daily Investment per Heifer:     $143    6.9%  Bedding per Heifer:       $90    4.3%  Building Ownership per Heifer:        $90    4.3% These five expenses represent 80.9% of the total cost to raise the dairy replacement. Average raising cost per day per heifer was $2.995 with an average calving age of 23.0 months. The average daily costs ranged from almost $6.50 while the calf was on liquid feed, to $2.00 to $2.20 per day from weaning to breeding to $2.60 to $2.70 from breeding to close-up and back over $3.50 right before calving.