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Part of Agriculture business tools

CowProfit$ enterprise analysis tool

Producers can download this free application to help determine their farm’s costs of production.

Overview

Producers can download CowProfit$ as an .exe file for free on this page, and customize it for their farm to help determine costs of production.

Producers familiar with CowProfit$ can easily contribute their information to the AgriProfit$ program, supporting research into the economics and management of cow/calf businesses. This information is valuable to Alberta producers for management and decision-making.

Calculations and reports are directly comparable. AgriProfit$ benchmarks can be used directly by CowProfit$ users.

Features

The CowProfit$ software program:

  • incorporates your own production systems, and key variables such as fertilizer prices, fuel prices, expected yields and selling prices
  • adds flexibility to the calculation process by allowing user inputs for operating cost items and expected production results, including: breakeven selling prices contribution margin, gross margin and return to equity; all costs are shown in ‘$ per acre’ and ‘total enterprise costs’
  • assists in comparing the risks and returns from various cash rental and crop share lease arrangements
  • calculates fertilizer costs from user specified N-P-K-S requirements in a separate worksheet:
    • a least-cost blend of fertilizer is calculated using the specified requirements and individual ingredient costs
    • other important results are dry blend formulations that show individual ingredient and total applied pounds per acre
  • is designed for quick ‘what-if’ type analyses, for example:
    • What if input prices go up?
    • What if yields or prices don’t meet my expectations?
    • Where should I place selling price orders so that I don’t lose money?
  • has example numbers included so new users can quickly see the power of the analysis in just a few minutes; instructions are included in cell notes for quick reference
  • can perform comparative or multi-year analyses; users can do this by copying an initial worksheet into a new worksheet tab using the instructions provided

User guide

The Western Beef Development Centre provides a CowProfit$ user guide, training videos, and other cost of production resources at: www.cowprofits.ca.

Acknowledgements

CowProfit$ is maintained by the Economics Section (Intergovernmental and Trade Relations Branch). We appreciate the excellent support in resources and expertise of our partners, the Western Beef Development Centre. The Centre provides additional resources and information about the program at www.cowprofits.ca.

Agreement

By downloading this software, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement as set out below. If you do not agree to be bound, do not download this software.

  • The software and any written materials that might accompany the electronic version of CowProfit$ (‘written materials’) are proprietary to and all rights except those expressly given herein remain with His Majesty the King in right of Alberta (‘Agriculture and Irrigation’).
  • The software and written materials are protected by Canadian copyright law and international treaty provisions.
  • You are hereby authorized to transfer the software to a single system.
  • You may not copy written materials.
  • You may not rent or lease the software but you may transfer all of your interest in it, accompanied by written materials, if you retain no copies and the recipient agrees to the terms of this agreement.
  • You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create derivative works from the software.
  • In no event will Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation be liable to you for any claims, costs, losses or damages, including without limitation, lost profits or lost data arising out of the use or inability to use the software or any data or any advice supplied therein.

Sign up for updates

  • Fill out the online form below to get future updates about the program.
  • By clicking the submit button below the form you accept the above terms and conditions.

All fields are required unless otherwise indicated.

Download software

Step 1. Check system requirements

The estimated CowProfit$ file size is 7 MB. To use the software, you will need:

  • Microsoft Windows

Step 2. Download the file

  • Remember to remove old versions of the CowProfit$ file from your computer.
  • Click the button below to download the zipped application file to your computer.
  • You will be prompted to choose a location on your computer to save the zipped file.

Download CowProfit$

Step 3. Run CowProfit$

  • On your computer, double-click setupCowprofits3-26.zip to unzip the application file.
  • Double-click the setupCowprofits3-26.exe application file to launch the software program.
  • Enter the information needed to perform your crop enterprise analysis.

Contact

Connect with the Economics Section:

Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Phone: 427-5390
Email: [email protected]

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