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Beef cost of production: Suckler herds
We present costing and performance insights for beef production suckler herds by using Farmbench data.
What does the 2023/24 season tell us?
Suckler herds for the 2023/24 season saw a rise in cost of production from the previous year, according to Farmbench analysis. However, total income increased for the top-performing 25% and middle 50%.
In 2023/24 the top 25% performers have a higher cost of production than the three-year average. However, their net margins are higher in 2024 than the three-year average. Farms in the top 25% continue to have larger herd numbers and utilise grazing more than the middle 50% and bottom 25%.
Overheads are a key differential between the top 25%, middle 50% and bottom 25%. Total overheads for the top 25% are £465.62 per cow put to the bull, with the bottom 25% being an average of £1,230.80 per cow put to the bull.
Top 25% Farmbench users for suckler herds in 2023/24 experienced an improved year in terms of full economic net margin. For the middle 50% and bottom 25% performers in Farmbench, net margins remain negative in 2023/24 (per cow put to the bull).
Beef suckler herds ranked by full economic net margin, per cow put to the bull
2024 beef suckler herds and three-year average cost of production and net margin
| Suckler herd: Cost of production | Per cow put to the bull | 2023/24 (Calving 2024) | Three-year average (2022, 2023, 2024) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 25% | Middle 50% | Bottom 25% | Top 25% | Middle 50% | Bottom 25% | ||
| Key performance indicators | Cost of production per calf (£/kg) | 2.55 | 4.00 | 6.92 | 2.37 | 3.89 | 6.78 |
| 200 day weaned calf weight per kg of cow bulled (%) | 36.30 | 33.49 | 31.04 | 36.60 | 33.78 | 33.12 | |
| Age at first calving (months) | 25 | 26 | 30 | 24.77 | 26.97 | 29.72 | |
| Enterprise details | Number of cows/heifers put to bull | 122 | 63 | 31 | 129 | 71 | 38 |
| Total forage area allocated to enterprise (ha) | 122.57 | 71.73 | 68.24 | 124 | 74 | 58 | |
| Number of weeks housed (weeks) | 16 | 19 | 21 | 16 | 20 | 20 | |
| Technical performance | Cow to bull ratio | 28 | 31 | 20 | 30 | 29 | 22 |
| Cows/heifers scanned in-calf (%) | 91.60 | 92.41 | 90.55 | 93 | 91 | 93 | |
| Calves died from birth to weaning per 100 cows/heifers put to bull (%) | 2.12 | 2.06 | 3.90 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Calves reared per 100 cows/heifers put to bull (%) | 87.58 | 89.71 | 85.40 | 88 | 87 | 88 | |
| Daily liveweight gain for weaned calves (kg/day) | 1.13 | 0.99 | 1.02 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Weight produced per forage hectare (kg/ha) | 198 | 156 | 78 | 204 | 171 | 117 | |
| Non-forage feed fed DM (kg/hd) | 199.31 | 146.81 | 75.07 | 128 | 157 | 89 | |
| Harvested forage fed DM (kg/hd) | 980.49 | 1,166.98 | 1,803.08 | 1,013 | 1,290 | 1,799 | |
| Creep feed fed (kg/hd) | 19.62 | 11.47 | 0.00 | 24 | 54 | 37 | |
| Income (£/cow put to the bull) | Total income | 830.03 | 756.24 | 623.88 | 754.07 | 691.82 | 588.53 |
| Variable costs (£/cow put to the bull) | Vet and medicine | 36.47 | 42.84 | 47.00 | 39.12 | 43.48 | 48.33 |
| Bedding | 45.56 | 50.98 | 51.56 | 36.32 | 52.63 | 54.94 | |
| Total variable costs excl. feed | 112.73 | 164.99 | 179.51 | 110.69 | 158.52 | 158.26 | |
| Homegrown forage variable costs | 47.92 | 59.28 | 61.78 | 37.58 | 70.51 | 75.78 | |
| Total feed and forage costs | 95.43 | 118.75 | 129.78 | 81.96 | 149.98 | 172.18 | |
| Overheads (£/cow put to the bull) | Total labour | 142.77 | 210.62 | 419.75 | 136.80 | 208.79 | 447.59 |
| Total machinery and equipment | 107.98 | 198.04 | 310.20 | 99.58 | 189.19 | 338.42 | |
| Total property and energy costs | 33.79 | 61.27 | 83.43 | 34.97 | 63.60 | 107.93 | |
| Total administration costs | 37.64 | 58.78 | 99.27 | 36.29 | 52.28 | 91.79 | |
| Total overheads | 465.62 | 720.62 | 1,230.80 | 434.55 | 682.73 | 1,288.59 | |
| Cost of production and margins (£/cow put to the bull) | Full economic cost of production | 673.78 | 1,004.36 | 1,540.09 | 627.19 | 991.23 | 1,619.02 |
| Full economic net margin | 156.24 | -248.12 | -916.21 | 126.88 | -299.42 | -1,030.49 | |
Characteristics of top- and bottom-performing beef and sheep farms
Our insights are informed by a statistical examination of the Farm Business Survey and a case study analysis that identifies what actions top performers take that promote success.
The study also offers a list of ways in which beef and sheep farm businesses might improve their margins.
Understanding the data
Farmbench is an online benchmarking tool that allows you to compare your farm to similar businesses, facilitated by AHDB and our Farmbench managers.
The latest production year insights have been pulled from the tool and displayed below.
A ‘production year’ means a 12-month period which covers all financial and physical activity relating to the production of the annual crop (plant or animal) from an enterprise. For example, the 2023/24 production year is associated with 2024 lambing, and calving for autumn 2023 and spring 2024.
For 2023/24 insights, the Farmbench tool gathered data from a total of 97 farms across England.
This 2023/24 total included 77 suckler herd, 31 finishing beef and 58 store beef enterprises, and 84 breeding flock and 56 finishing lamb enterprises.
All the data has been averaged into three benchmark groups and ranked by full economic net profit margin: top 25%, middle 50% and bottom 25% performers.