Extension > Agriculture > Dairy Extension > Business tools and budgeting
Business tools and budgeting
Ag Income Tax Update for Farm Families
March, 2011
Financial Management Series
5 new fact sheets, May 2011
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What are the drivers of profit in your dairy herd?
The DuPont equation is a great way to examine return on assets because it is easy to evaluate the drivers of profitability within the business.
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Margin compression – what does it mean for my business?
What margin compression means for Minnesota farmers.
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Unversity of Minnesota Extension website has much to offer dairy farmers
A great resource for crop and livestock farmers alike is Extension's Agricultural Business Management website.
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Fodder systems and forage supply
With the drought of 2012 impacting feed prices and feed supplies, dairy quality forage is very expensive if you have to buy it. What are you doing now to increase your forage supply in 2013?
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Taking the first step of a farm transition
The steps necessary before the transfer process can begin
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Be careful what you cut
The next few months will be challenging. The best is to focus on factors within your control and continue to take good care of your cows; they are your most important production asset.
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New year, new plan
Use SMART for goal setting. Write an action plan for each goal. Involve those to be affected by the outcome in writing the goal. Revisit the goals from time to time.
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Partial budgets
A partial budget is a very helpful tool to analyze one specific change being considered to the farm operation. It helps determine the profitability of the specific change you are planning.
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Estate Planning series
Controlling your assets during your life and after your death.
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Transferring the Farm
10 fact sheets covering aspects from taxes to real estate to transfer of livestock and machinery.
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How to be better prepared for an uncharted future in dairying
Analyze all areas of the business that can be controlled, then develop a list and formulate a management control plan.
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Know the drivers of dairy farm profitability
Feed costs, replacement costs and labor are the three biggest costs on a dairy farm.
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Managing dairy production costs and ratios
Milk/feed ratio, income over feed cost, breakeven, variable and fixed costs.
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Cash flow planning
Learn how to draw up a partial budget and create a cash flow plan.
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Annual cash flow planning is worthwhile
Use Extension's FINPACK software to create a balance sheet, budgets, and financial analysis.
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How much does it cost to raise dairy goats?
Expense and income estimates for hobby vs. commercial operations.
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Dairy diagnostics tool box
Diagnosing problem areas identifies opportunities for herd improvement.
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Cropland rental rates
For Minnesota counties, 2005-2009. (182 K PDF)
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Minnesota Land Economics
Build your own Minnesota land dataset.
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Center for Farm Financial Management
Home of AgTransitions planning guide, FINPACK financial planning and analysis software and dairy benchmark reports from the FINBIN farm financial database.
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Machinery cost estimates
Time-related and use-related categories for farm machinery operation costs. (59 K PDF)
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Not everything can be a top priority
Use this simple tool to assess both the importance and the urgency of tasks at hand.
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Farm finance scorecard
Defines key terms and helps you assess your financial strength or vulnerability. (278 K PDF)
Other business and budgeting resources we recommend
- Ag cost of capital calculator – Pennsylvania State University
- Grants, loans and financing – Minnesota Department of Agriculture
- Ag Decision Maker – Iowa State University
- TMR plan calculator – University of Kentucky
- Center for Dairy Profitability – University of Wisconsin
- How to compute your cost of producting milk – University of Missouri
- Business structure guide for producers (23 K PDF) – Minnesota Department of Agriculture
- 15 measures of dairy farm competitiveness (860 K PDF) – The Ohio State University
- Calculate the value of a cow – University of Wisconsin
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cost calculator – The Livestock Vantage
- 2008 Virginia dairy budgets – Virginia Cooperative Extension
- Raising dairy herd replacements (98 K PDF) – Kansas State University
- Dairy heifer budgets – North Carolina State Univeristy
- National Program for Integrated Dairy Risk Management Education and Research
- The dairy greenhouse gas model (114 K PDF) – United States Department of Agriculture
- Decision making tools – Cornell University
- Analyzing your dairy business (1 MB PDF) – Pennsylvania State University
