Economic results of beef cattle production in a complete cycle system under an extensive grazing regime in the town of Carrancas - Minas Gerais during the years 2008 to 2010

The purpose of this work was to investigate the profitability of a beef cattle operation with a complete cycle (cow-calf, growing, and fattening), under grazing and with low technology input, in Carrancas, located in the south of Minas Gerais State. Additional aims were to evaluate the effect of price variations over the year on profitability, to identify the components of the total and the effective operational costs, which most affected the cost per unit of beef produced and to estimate the break-even point. The data were collected over the period of May of 2008 to November of 2010 (31 months). The analysis of profitability employed the software Custo Bovino Corte® (Beef Cattle Cost software®), taking into account the gross margin, the net margin and the result (profit or loss) as indicators of economic efficiency. In period 1 (31 of May to 2008 to 30 September 2009), the positive gross margin indicates that the production system evaluated is able to survive in the short term. On the other hand, evaluation over period 2 (October 1st of 2009 to November 20th of 2010) showed positive gross and net margins suggesting that the business is stable, and has possibilities of expanding. The most important items of the total cost were, in decreasing order: purchase of animals, land price, depreciation, return on the invested capital, feed and healthcare