NOTE: Understanding the economies of scale is important for animal health pros as we work with cattle producers to optimize production outcomes. Too frequently, the added cost of veterinary services and medicine fall subject to scrutiny despite them being de minimis in the mix of operating costs per cow and the level of production.
There are more than 600,000 farms with beef cows in the U.S., according to the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture. Seventy-nine percent had fewer than 50 cows and 1 percent had 500 or more cows. An economic study by USDA Economic Resource Service measured opportunity and overhead costs per cow which showed significant differences with farm sizes, such as $1,129 per cow for farms with 20–49 cows to $108 per cow for farms with 500 or more cows.
Source: Feedstuffs, December 2024. Link. The primary driver for lower costs on larger farms was found to be the lower per-cow capital recovery cost associated with buildings, machinery, and equipment. Ownership costs were spread out more as farms increased in size, resulting in lower ownership costs per cow.
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