Cow/Calf Ranching in 10 Western States

This report identifies differences between beef cow/calf operations with permits to graze Forest Service (FS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and other operations in 10 Western and Plains States. The main differences are that those operations with FS/BLM grazing permits had higher net returns above cash costs (even though their gross receipts and cash costs per cow are lower), sold fewer pounds per cow of all cattle and calves, had larger cow herds, had more sheep, and purchased fewer stocker cattle. Fencing, breeding stock, and hired labor cost permittees more, but they paid sufficiently less for harvested forages and rented pasture to more than offset other higher costs. Regression models based on cow herd size demonstrated that permittees had significantly higher net returns above cash costs per hundredweight of cattle sold.