Financial Record-Keeping Systems
Standardize Performance Analysis (SPA)—Th e SPA program
is a workbook-based fi nancial record-keeping tool, developed by
the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Cooperative
Extension Service in order to assist producers in analyzing their
herd economic and production records in a uniform manner.
Th e SPA program targets effi ciencies and defi ciencies within a
cow-calf or backgrounding herd and focuses on measuring fi nan-
cial performances of the cow-calf, hay, and pasture enterprises. Th is
program will help producers determine their cost of production
by looking at out-of-pocket expenses as well as opportunity costs
of their beef operation. Th e SPA analysis will provide producers
with enterprise-specifi c data that can easily be incorporated into
their operation and used to increase their profi tability.
Some of the SPA program highlights include information such
as returns to cow-calf enterprise, cost for cow-calf enterprise, forage
production cost, pasture summaries, summary of investment per
breeding cow, summary of investment per pasture acre, and total
capital investment per cow.
Th is is a free service and program, supported by the University
of Kentucky. For more information or to obtain a workbook, call
(859) 278-0899. Once completed, the workbook can be mailed in,
and the computer-generated fi nancial analysis will be returned to
the producer (all information is considered confi dential).
It is important to realize that the SPA program is an in-depth
fi nancial analysis of the beef operation and should be considered as a
fi nancial tool regardless whether the producer has any other fi nancial
record-keeping programs (such as Quicken® or the Kentucky Farm
Record Book). Th ese programs (Quicken and Kentucky Farm Record
Book) are mostly whole farm analysis and will not provide the producer
with an in-depth cow-calf or backgrounding fi nancial analysis.
Quicken®—A computerized record-keeping program that
allows producers to categorize their income and expenses and
run reports using that information. Th e University of Kentucky
Department of Agricultural Economics Web page has farm
categories that producers can download and use in their programs.
If you are interested in attending a Quicken workshop, call your
local Extension agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Kentucky Farm Record Book (Brown Book)—A hand record-
keeping system for keeping farm cash costs. Th e book allows the
producer to record cash income and expenses, sale and purchase of
capital items, labor expenses, and withholding transactions. Once
completed, this information will serve as a producer’s Schedule F
tax form.