Africa Estate Farm Tools
Calf cash flow: when does the money come in?
Your cows, calves and pregnant cows today, and the months the money comes in and goes out over the next two years: weaners and cull cows at this week's prices, licks and running costs from the Land Bank's budget, and the lowest point of the bank balance. The example herd is there to start; type your own.
1. Your herd now
One bull per 33 females: within the Land Bank budget's 3 per 100.
2. Calves and pregnant cows
A cow carries 283 days (about 9 months). To calve every 12 months she must be pregnant again within about 82 days of calving.
3. Fertility
62% is the measured average of commercial herds (ARC); 80% is the target (KZN Department of Agriculture).
Planning figure; the KZN target for the whole herd is below 3%.
4. Sales
The ARC weighs weaners at 205 days (about 7 months).
42% of a 460 kg cow (KZN) = 193 kg; ARC breed averages 183 to 210 kg.
RPO, week ended 2026-10-16. Your auction's price this week wins.
Kept to replace the cull cows; the rest are sold.
Land Bank 2025 budget: 10%
Land Bank 2025 budget: 450 kg
Land Bank 2025 budget: 54%
RPO C2/C3, week ended 2026-10-16
Your auctioneer's and transporter's rates. Nothing is deducted until you type it.
Cull cows sold in
Costs and assumptions (change any of them)
Winter lick months (tap to choose)
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget
Land Bank 2025 budget: 625 cows = 1 000 LSU
Land Bank 2025 budget: 2 / 625
National minimum wage R30,23 an hour from 1 March 2026, 45 hours a week.
Rates, insurance, electricity, bookkeeping: type yours.
The answer
Enter your cows to start.
Net over 24 months
R 0
Income per cow, year 2
R 0
Cost per cow, year 2
R 0
Lowest bank balance
R 0
This week's prices (read today from the RPO's weekly table, week ended 2026-10-16): weaners R52.38/kg, class C carcass R58.73/kg. RPO (cross-check: Standard Bank Livestock Biweekly Insights No. 19, 2026-10-16: R51.32 / R58.10)
Cattle farms for sale
Africa Estate cattle and grazing farms, newest first.
What this does not tell you
- Prices stay at this week's level for the two years; the market will not.
- The herd stays the same size: kept heifers replace the cull cows, and deaths among the cows are not counted.
- Calving is spread as the groups you enter calve; a herd on a set breeding season calves in a narrower window.
- The costs are the Land Bank's 2025 budget for 625 cows. Your own lick, vet and labour accounts replace them.
- No tax, no interest on the overdraft, no bond.
Sources
- RPO, national average carcass and weaner prices (weekly) (2026-10-16)
- Standard Bank Livestock Biweekly Insights No. 19 (2026-10-16)
- Land Bank Agricultural Technical Support, Livestock Enterprise Budget Book 2025: Beef cattle, 18 months marketing system (2025)
- ARC (Jordaan and Greyling) as cited by the University of the Free State: calving percentage 62%
- KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Beef Production: The Basics, Useful Statistics
- National Minimum Wage Act, Schedule 1 item 2(a), GN R.7083 in Government Gazette 54075 of 3 February 2026 (2026-03-01)
- Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act 43 of 1983, Table 2 (LSU per animal) (1984-05-25)
Estimate, not advice. Confirm every figure with your bank, attorney and tax practitioner before a decision.