Based upon a survey of cow-calf producers, Cattle-Fax~(R) recently reported on the cash costs to carry a cow in various regions of the U.S. in 2004. Table 1 is a summary of the survey's results. As shown in Table 1, total cash costs were highest in the Northwest and lowest in the Southwest and Southeast. Feed costs were lowest in the Southeast and Southern Plains and highest in the Midwest. The national average for feed costs as a percentage of total costs was 62%. Therefore, working on reducing feed costs would appear to be a reasonable place to start in lowering cost of production and thereby enhancing profitability.
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