12/19/05 A to Z retained ownership program

The A to Z Retained Ownership program is in its 14th years and its gives cattle producers a chance to feed out their animals at the Bruneau Cattle Company feed lot and then get performance and carcass data to help them with selection decisions. AHOLA "It's predominately meant for smaller groups of calves, five to 50 head and over the course of 13 years there's been five thousand head go through the program." Jason Ahola of the University of Idaho Extension says this program is an alternative for producers who typically sell calves to the feed lot in the fall rather than retain ownership. AHOLA "Eight out of 13 years it's been profitable to feed cattle in this program. Last year the calves were profitable after going through the feedout versus having sold them at weaning. So even in a very strong calf market year it is still more profitable to retain ownership." Last year average profit per steer was $33.76 and it was $65.46 per heifer with average daily gains during feedout at 3.46 pounds for steers, 3.3 pounds for heifers. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott