EQUITABLE CROPSHARE ARRANGEMENTS FOR INTENSIVE DRYLAND CROPPING SYSTEMS

As producers move toward intensive dryland cropping systems, the potential for inequities in cropshare lease arrangements exists. A whole farm budget was developed to evaluate returns for landowner and tenant from different cropshare lease arrangements. Results suggest that cropshare lease adjustments are necessary as cropping systems become more intensive.Crop Production/Industries,

Historical Cattle and Beef Prices, Seasonal Patterns, and Futures Basis for Nebraska, 1960-2004

Prices for different classes of feeder steers and heifers, slaughter steers and heifers, slaughter cows and bulls are reported in Tables 1-23. These prices are analyzed in the text of this publication. Discounts and premiums for various weights, grades and sex are identified. Each price series is analyzed to determine long-term price trends and seasonal patterns. Feeder and live cattle basis are calculated using USDA monthly average cash prices and the monthly average futures prices, Tables 14-15, 23. Carcass cut-out values are reported in Tables 24-26

Determining the Effectiveness of Optimal Time-Varying Hedge Ratios for Cattle Feeders under Multiproduct and Single Commodity Settings

The purpose of this paper is to determine and contrast the risk mitigating effectiveness from optimal multiproduct time-varying hedge ratios, applied to the margin of a cattle feedlot operation, over single commodity time-varying and naive hedge ratios. Design/methodology/approach – A parsimonious regime-switching dynamic correlations (RSDC) model is estimated in two-stages, where the dynamic correlations among prices of numerous commodities vary proportionally between two different regimes/levels. This property simplifies estimation methods for a large number of parameters involved. Findings – There is significant evidence that resulting simultaneous correlations among the prices (spot and futures) for each commodity attain different levels along the time-series. Second, for in and out-of-sample data there is a substantial reduction in the operation’s margin variance provided from both multiproduct and single time-varying optimal hedge ratios over naive hedge ratios. Lastly, risk mitigation is attained at a lower cost given that average optimal multiproduct and single time-varying hedge ratios obtained for corn, feeder cattle and live cattle are significantly below the naive full hedge ratio. Research limitations/implications – The application studied is limited in that once a hedge position has been set at a particular period, it is not possible to modify or update at a subsequent period. Practical implications – Agricultural producers, specifically cattle feeders, may profit from a tool using improved techniques to determine hedge ratios by considering a larger amount of up-to-date information. Moreover, these agents may apply hedge ratios significantly lower than one and thus mitigate risk at lower costs. Originality/value – Feedlot operators will benefit from the potential implementation of this parsimonious RSDC model for their hedging operations, as it provides average optimal hedge ratios significantly lower than one and sizeable advantages in margin risk mitigation. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

AmelHap: Leveraging drone whole-genome sequence data to create a honey bee HapMap

Honey bee, Apis mellifera, drones are typically haploid, developing from an unfertilized egg, inheriting only their queen’s alleles and none from the many drones she mated with. Thus the ordered combination or ‘phase’ of alleles is known, making drones a valuable haplotype resource. We collated whole-genome sequence data for 1,407 drones, including 45 newly sequenced Scottish drones, collectively representing 19 countries, 8 subspecies and various hybrids. Following alignment to Amel_HAv3.1, variant calling and quality filtering, we retained 17.4 M high quality variants across 1,328 samples with a genotyping rate of 98.7%. We demonstrate the utility of this haplotype resource, AmelHap, for genotype imputation, returning >95% concordance when up to 61% of data is missing in haploids and up to 12% of data is missing in diploids. AmelHap will serve as a useful resource for the community for imputation from low-depth sequencing or SNP chip data, accurate phasing of diploids for association studies, and as a comprehensive reference panel for population genetic and evolutionary analyses.For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. This work was supported by a grant from the CB Dennis British Beekeepers’ Research Trust awarded to MB and DW, and through strategic investment funding to the Roslin Institute from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/E/D/30002276). MP was supported by a Basque Government grant (IT1233-19)

Bioeconomic Factors of Beef Heifer Maturity to Consider when Establishing Criteria to Optimally Select and/or Retain Herd Replacements

Understanding the biology of heifer maturity and its relationship to calving difficulty and subsequent breeding success is a vital step in building abioeconomic model to identify optimal production and profitability. A limited dependent variable probit model is used to quantify the responses among heifer maturities, measured by a maturity index (MI), on dystocia and second pregnancy. The MI account for heifer age, birth BW, prebreeding BW, nutrition level, and dam size and age and is found to be inversely related to dystocia occurrence. On average there is a 2.2% increase in the probability of dystocia with every 1 point drop in the MI between the MI scores of 50 and 70. Statistically, MI does not directly alter second pregnancy rate; however, dystocia does. The presence of dystocia reduced second pregnancy rates by 10.67%. Using the probability of dystocia predicted from the MI in the sample, it is found that on average, every 1 point increase in MI added 0.62% to the probability of the occurrence of second pregnancy over the range represented by the data. Relationships among MI, dystocia, and second pregnancy are nonlinear and exhibit diminishing marginal effects. These relationships indicate optimal production and profitability occur at varying maturities, which are altered by animal type, economic environment, production system, and management regime. With these captured relationships, any single group of heifers may be ranked by profitability given their physical characteristics and the applicable production, management, and economic conditions

Effect of Sorting and Feeding Optaflexx on Performance and Economics of Long Yearling Steers

A two-year experiment evaluated the effects of sorting long yearling steers by initial feedlot BW and supplementing 200 mg/steer of Optaflexx daily the last 28 days of the feeding period on ADG, F/G, carcass characteristics and profitability. Feedlot ADG, F/G, and profitability were not effected by sorting. However, sorted cattle exhibited increased fat thickness, increased ribeye area, and increased percentage of carcasses with a yield grade of four or higher. Supplementing Optaflexx the last 28 days of the feeding period had no effect on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, or profitability

Effect of Sorting and Feeding Optaflexx on Performance and Economics of Long Yearling Steers

A two-year experiment evaluated the effects of sorting long yearling steers by initial feedlot BW and supplementing 200 mg/steer of Optaflexx daily the last 28 days of the feeding period on ADG, F/G, carcass characteristics and profitability. Feedlot ADG, F/G, and profitability were not effected by sorting. However, sorted cattle exhibited increased fat thickness, increased ribeye area, and increased percentage of carcasses with a yield grade of four or higher. Supplementing Optaflexx the last 28 days of the feeding period had no effect on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, or profitability

Comparison of Performance and Economics of a Long-yearling and Calf-fed System

Performance and economics of calf feeding and feeding long-yearlings was compared from University of Nebraska research conducted from 1996 to 2004. All calves in these studies were spring born and purchased the subsequent fall. The heaviest calves (292 ± 5 kg) were placed into the feedlot and fed an average of 168 d (calf-feds), whereas the lighter calves (239 ± 5 kg) were placed into a long-yearling system consisting of corn residue grazing followed by summer grazing before entering the feedlot for finishing. Long-yearlings were fed in the feedlot for an average of 90 d. At the beginning of the finishing period, long-yearlings were 143 kg heavier than calf-feds (P \u3c 0.01). Although daily DMI was greater for long-yearlings (P \u3c 0.01), calf-feds consumed more total DM during finishing (P \u3c 0.01). Long-yearlings had greater ADG compared with calf-feds during finishing (P \u3c 0.01); however, calf-feds were 18.7% more efficient (P \u3c 0.01). Long-yearlings were 38 kg heavier (P \u3c 0.01) than calf-feds and had 24 kg heavier hot carcass weight (P \u3c 0.01). Quality grade was not affected by production system (P \u3e 0.10); however, calf-feds had 0.15 cm greater fat thickness (P \u3c 0.01). Long-yearlings were more profitable than calf-feds (P \u3c 0.01) due to lower feed cost (P \u3c 0.01), yardage (P \u3c 0.01), and initial animal cost (P \u3c 0.01). However, long-yearlings had higher interest cost (P \u3c 0.01) and total cost (P = 0.02). Long-yearlings produced greater final BW leading to an improvement in profitability compared with calf-feds

Effects of Feeding a Novel Alfalfa Leaf Pellet Product (ProLEAF MAX) and Alfalfa Stems (ProFiber Plus) on Performance in the Feedlot and Carcass Quality of Beef Steers

Alfalfa is often included in the diets of beef animals; however, the nutrient content of alfalfa is variable depending on the region in which it is grown, climate, soil, and many other factors. The leaf portion of alfalfa has a less variable nutrient composition than the stem portion of the plant. The variability that is present in the alfalfa plant can make the development of total mixed rations of consistent nutrient content difficult. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine how the inclusion of fractionated alfalfa leaves and alfalfa stems impacts performance and carcass quality of finishing beef steers. Twenty-four steers were allocated to one of three treatments: a control group fed a typical finishing diet with alfalfa as the forage (CON; n = 8), a typical diet that replaced alfalfa with fractionated alfalfa leaf pellets and alfalfa stems (ProLEAF MAX™ + ProFiber Plus™; PLM+PFP; n = 8), or a typical diet that replaced alfalfa with alfalfa stems (PFP; n = 8) for 63 days. Steers were fed individually once daily, weighed every 14 days and ultrasound images were collected every 28 days. At the end of the feeding trial, steers were harvested at a commercial facility and carcass data was obtained. Analysis of dry matter intake demonstrated that steers receiving the PFP and CON diets consumed more feed (P \u3c 0.001) than steers consuming the PLM+PFP diet. Steers receiving the PLM+PFP diet gained less (P \u3c 0.001) weight than the steers receiving the other two dietary treatments. No differences (P \u3e 0.10) in feed efficiency or carcass characteristics were observed. Steers receiving the PFP diet had improved (P = 0.016) cost of gain ($0.93 per kg) when compared with steers receiving PLM+PFP ($1.08 per kg) diet. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the inclusion of PFP in place of alfalfa hay in a finishing diet has the potential to improve cost of gain, without negatively affecting growth, performance, or carcass characteristics of finishing feedlot steers