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Cattle economics: scenario planning and breakeven pricing

Before you buy calves, sign a grazing lease, or commit to a marketing channel, the Economics tab lets you model the whole plan — cost to raise plus revenue to sell — and see the breakeven price and bottom line before you spend a dollar.

1. Open the Scenario plannerGo to the Economics tab. The Scenario planner card is at the top, with a Raising method dropdown and a Selling method dropdown side by side.
2. Pick how the animals are raisedChoose from Cow-calf, Stocker / Backgrounder, Finishing (feedlot), Seedstock, or Broilers (poultry flock). Each swaps in the cost fields that actually apply — a cow-calf operation asks for annual cost per cow and weaning rate; a stocker plan asks for purchase cost, start/sale weight, and days on feed.
3. Pick how they're soldChoose from Livestock Auction, Video / Tele-Auction, Marketing Alliance, Private Treaty, Freezer Beef (Direct), or Settlement — paid per pound (for contract or independent poultry growers). Each brings in the fees and pricing fields for that channel.
4. Watch the results update liveAs you fill in numbers on both sides, the results panel recalculates instantly: cost per head, net revenue per head, net profit per unit, breakeven price, and the whole-plan group total.
5. Save the plan to compare it laterName the scenario (e.g. "2026 stocker calves") and click "Save scenario." Saved plans show up in a ranked table below, sorted by whole-plan net — so "stocker calves → video auction" can sit right next to "grass-finished → freezer beef" and you can see which one actually wins.
6. Turn a plan into a real lotFor a Stocker or Finishing plan, once the Stocker Cattle module is turned on, a "Start a lot from this plan →" button appears. Click it to prefill a new lot with the plan's head count, purchase weight, and cost — you land on the Stocker tab to finish and save it.
7. Re-plan from a real lot's actualsThe reverse works too: open any lot in Stocker Cattle and click "Re-plan in Economics" to pull its real numbers — actual cost, weight, and days on feed — back into a fresh scenario, so you can model out the rest of the lot with real data instead of guesses.
8. Check regional market prices while you planThe Regional market reports card on the same tab pulls live USDA cattle/livestock reports for your state, so you're not guessing at a market price to plug into the calculator.