Beef performance economics — costs and returns

What this page helps you do

Beef → Performance economics compares recorded cattle costs with known carcass or live-sale proceeds. It helps you spot differences among animals, breeds and mobs, and export the underlying rows. It is a management view over saved Farmlync records, not an accounting statement: missing purchase, feed, health or sale records affect the result.

The report includes all currently active non-Dairy animals and non-Dairy animals that exited during the selected farm-local date window. The date window selects exits, weights and period costs; it does not mean that every cost component is limited to the window. In particular, an animal’s recorded purchase price is included when present, while feed and health/breeding costs are read for the selected window. A currently active animal is included even if it entered after the selected historical window, so use a window ending today for the clearest current-farm comparison. Keep the same dates and completeness of cost recording when comparing cohorts.

Choose the report

Control	What to do
From	Pick the first farm-local day. The initial value is 90 days before today. It cannot be later than To.
To	Pick the final farm-local day, inclusive. The initial value is today; the picker does not offer a later day. The whole window may contain at most 366 days. If the range is invalid, a warning appears and no new request runs.
View	Choose Per animal, By breed or By mob. This changes the presentation of the same report window; it is not a separate save action.
Export CSV	Downloads per-animal rows, sorted by calculated margin, even when By breed or By mob is selected on screen. It is disabled when there are no rows. The CSV includes purchase, feed, health/breeding and total costs, as well as proceeds and rate columns.

If the report has no eligible animals, adjust the dates and check animal production type and records. If loading fails, select Retry in the error panel.

Read the summary tiles

Animals counts eligible animals. Finished shows those no longer active, alongside the number still on farm. Total cost adds purchase, feed and health/breeding costs for all returned animals. Proceeds adds known carcass net values or recorded live-sale prices for finished animals. Finished margin adds the margins for animals with known proceeds; it is not proceeds minus the displayed all-animal total cost, because that cost includes cattle still on farm.

The server prefers a carcass’s net value for a finished animal; otherwise it uses the animal’s recorded sale price. If neither is available, proceeds and margin are blank for that animal. A blank is unknown, not a zero-value sale.

Read the Per animal table

The table starts with the highest recorded margin; rows without a margin follow. It shows 20 rows per page. Each row has an animal tag, optional national identifier and Finished/On farm status.

Column	Meaning
Breed	Animal’s breed recorded in Farmlync.
Days	Days between the recorded farm-entry date and exit date, or the report’s end boundary for an animal still on farm.
ADG	Average daily weight gain from the first and last available weighings within the chosen window, divided by elapsed farm days. A dash means there are not two usable dates.
Total cost	Recorded purchase price plus period feed and health/breeding costs for that animal; missing cost data is not inferred. Feed includes direct animal feeding and the animal’s recorded share of pen feeding while it occupied that pen. Health/breeding currently includes non-cancelled treatments, vaccinations and breeding-stock consumption in the window.
Proceeds	Carcass net value when present, otherwise recorded sale price, for a finished animal. A dash means no amount is known.
Margin	Known proceeds minus total cost. A dash means proceeds are unavailable or the animal remains on farm. Positive and negative values use different colours.
Cost/kg gain	Total cost divided by positive weight gain measured in the window. A dash means a positive gain could not be calculated. Because total cost includes purchase price, treat this as a rough comparison, not a pure marginal feeding cost.
Break-even/kg	For an on-farm animal with a positive latest weight in the window, total cost divided by that weight. A dash means the required weight is unavailable or the animal is finished. It is not a promised sale price.

Compare breeds or mobs

Choose By breed or By mob to see group rows with Animals, Finished, Total cost, Proceeds, Margin, Avg margin/head and Avg ADG. Select a group row to expand the contributing animals and their days, ADG, cost, proceeds, margin and break-even. Avg margin/head divides known group margin by the complete finished-animal count, including finished animals whose proceeds are unknown; treat it cautiously when sale evidence is incomplete. Avg ADG averages animals that have a calculated rate.

An active animal can belong to more than one mob and therefore appear in multiple mob groups. Do not add mob rows together to obtain a farm total; use the summary tiles or per-animal export for that. An animal without a current active-herd mob appears under (no mob). Finished animals are not resolved against their historical mob membership by this report and can therefore appear under (no mob). Group margin is based on animals with known proceeds, while group total cost also includes on-farm animals.

Check results before acting

1. Confirm the reporting dates and whether the animal is still on farm.
2. Check the animal’s purchase price and relevant feed and health records when total cost looks incomplete.
3. Check the saved carcass net value or sale price when proceeds or margin is blank.
4. Use recorded weights on different days before relying on ADG or break-even per kg.
5. Export the animal rows if you need to reconcile a group value; the group view can count a multi-mob animal more than once.
6. Check how many finished rows have known proceeds. The summary shows zero rather than “unknown” when no finished proceeds have been recorded.

Use Beef overview for growth and finishing planning, Weight sessions to add observed weights, and the Beef carcass pages for processor feedback and settlement evidence.