Tools to Improve On-Farm Profitability for Team Advisers

For new or veteran Profit/Target team advisers

September 29, 2009
Centre Visitor Center,
800 East Park Avenue, State College, Pa.

October 1, 2009
Cumberland County Extension Office,
310 Allen Road, Carlisle, Pa.

Time: 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Fee: $30.00 per person

To register:

Click here to register online with your MasterCard or VISA

Click here to print out a registration form that you may mail or fax to Dairy Alliance.

About the program:

Click here for program agenda.

Click here for a program flier.

Are you a consultant who advises a Profit/Target team? If so, you are uniquely positioned to assist producers as they plan cash flows for the upcoming year and as they monitor Income Over Feed Costs and cash flow for the coming year.

Tough times in the dairy business make it more important that ever for Profit/Target Teams to use cash flow planning tools. With only slow improvements in milk prices predicted, taking action with your teams in 2009 and planning for 2010 is an advantage. This workshop will provide the skills to use the Income Over Feed Cost tool with your teams to monitor cash flow. Participants will gain the skills needed to help their dairy producers plan profitable operations and guide them as they adjust plans to achieve desired outcomes.

The focus of the program will be how to use the new Penn State Income Over Feed Cost Tool and monitor cash flow as conditions change. Penn State Dairy Extension’s risk management team has created the Penn State Income Over Feed Cost Tool to help producers monitor IOFC so they may improve their profitability. This spreadsheet tool, available on the web, allows the user to determine actual feed cost per cow and compare it to industry benchmarks and to the IOFC index developed by economist Ken Bailey and Virginia Ishler, Penn State nutrient management specialist.

Why monitor income over feed cost?

Feed costs have typically represented 40 to 60 percent of the total cost of producing milk. The current volatility of milk and feed prices may increase this to 70 percent. The income left over after accounting for feed costs is what is left to pay other expenses.

The same market volatility affecting milk and feed prices is also affecting fertilizer, seed, and fuel costs, to name a few. The Penn State Income Over Feed Cost Tool has been created to help producers measure and monitor IOFC so they may improve their profitability. The free tool is available online at the link, above.

Program presenters:

• Tim Beck, Extension educator
• Mark Douglass, Extension educator
• Dr. Lisa Holden, associate professor, Dairy Science
• Virginia Ishler, nutrient management specialist
• Dr. Gabriella Varga, professor, Dairy & Animal Science