Identification and Management of Critical Control Points in the Cow-Calf Enterprise for Achieving and Maintaining Consistency and Low Cost of Production: Summary of Feedlot and Carcass Performance and Overall Economic Results11This work represents a portion of the M. S. thesis of the senior author and was supported, in part, by funding from the Colorado Integrated Resource Management Program.

Abstract Feedlot and carcass data were collected on an average of 20 steer offspring from 10 cooperating, southwestern Colorado cow-calf ranches that had previously been analyzed using the Integrated Resource Management-Standardized Performance Analysis (IRM-SPA) program. Averages and variation within and across ranches are presented. In general, variation observed was greater than desired by the beef cattle industry’s Long Range Plan carcass specification targets. Over all ranches, 59% of the cattle were outside of the desired specification ranges for one or more traits, although none of the ranches had insurmountable carcass challenges. The factors that affect low-cost production of a consistent beef product that meets the necessary standards for quality were also examined. Feed and labor costs were under control in most low-cost operations and managers had communicated goals to other people involved in the operation. There was no difference in feedlot performance between high- and low-cost cow-calf enterprises. High- and low-costs operators were equal in their ability to hit carcass targets.