RETAIL SALES: DO THEY MEAN REDUCED EXPENDITURES? GERMAN GROCERY EVIDENCE

Retail pricing strategies incorporate promotions, sales, and rigidities. A number of models have been proposed in particular to explain the occurrence of sales. Focussing on the market for fresh foods the model by Varian and the loss leader argument seem to be intuitively best fitting to the conditions in the fresh food market. From these models we derive several hypotheses that are tested for a unique data set of the German fresh food retail market. The data set consists of weekly prices for ten food items in 131 grocery shops over the period from 1995 to 2000. Following Varian sales should lead to reduced expenditures, while the loss leader argument assumes that consumers are lured into the shop by promotional sales which are covered by higher prices for other products. The results indicate that expenditures decrease with the number of sales in the short run but this effect is outweighed by a dynamic price adjustment thereafter.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

FOOD RETAIL SALES (PRICING): THEORY AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR GERMAN GROCERY STORES

Retail pricing indicates many phenomena, such as sales or rigidities. A number of models have been proposed in particular to explain the occurrence of sales. Focussing on the market for fresh foods the model by Varian and the loss leader argument seem to be intuitively best fitting to the conditions in the fresh food market. From these models we derive several hypotheses that are tested for a unique data set of the German fresh food retail market The data set consists of weekly prices for ten food items in 131 grocery shops over the period from 1995 to 2000. The results support to some extent the Varian model and also indicate some dynamic loss leader pricing. However, rejections of some hypothesis provide some hints for successive models adjustments. Promising extensions of the theory might be based on the consideration of menu and switching costs.Marketing,

ELEMENTS OF CATTLE FEEDING PROFITABILITY IN MIDWEST FEEDLOTS

Conventional wisdom and earlier research have concluded that cattle feeding profitability is more determined by feeder and fed cattle prices than by animal performance. This study examined cross-sectional and time-series data from over 1600 pens of cattle in more than 220 feedlots in the upper Midwest where weather and lot conditions are thought to influence feedlot profitability. In addition to input and output prices and animal performance, other factors found to significantly impact cattle feeding profitability were sex, placement weight, facility design, and to a lesser extent placement season.cattle feedlots, probability, risk, Livestock Production/Industries,

Initial genome-wide association study of feed intake related traits in beef cattle

The ability to improve the utilization of nutrients has tremendous potential to improve profitability. It has been estimated that a 10% improvement in performance (gain) would increase profit by 18%, while a 10% improvement in efficiency could improve profit by upwards of 43%. It has also been estimated that a 10% improvement in feed efficiency (assumed to be a 2 lb/day reduction in RFI) across the entire feedlot sector would equate to $1.2 Billion in reduced feed costs

State of Iowa Feedlot Summary 15 Years of Benchmarking Feedlot Performance

Fifteen years of closeout performance data was summarized to monitor trends in average daily gain and feed efficiency. Daily gain improved approximately 1% per year over the time period 1988–2002. Feed conversion improved approximately _ of 1% per year over the same time period

Evaluation of Low Test Weight Corn for Finishing Lambs

The floods of 1993 caused the corn crop to be low in test weight. The following study was conducted to determine the relative feeding value of low test weight corn. The ability to feed this discounted corn to lambs could be a means of adding extra value to the discounted crop and lower the cost of lamb gain. Performance parameters indicated that low test weight corn was of equal value to normal test weight corn

Supplementation of Co-products for Cow-Calf Grazing Systems—Progress Report

The objective of this three year demonstration project is to evaluate the feeding of various corn co-products in cowcalf grazing operations in Iowa. Year one efforts included on-farm demonstrations at two southern Iowa farms. Both demonstration sites included a control group without coproduct and a group with supplementation, using existing management herds. A demonstration in Lucas County involved three herds: a control with no supplementation (60 pairs), a group feeding 12 lb every other day of wet distiller’s grains with solubles (64 pairs), and another group feeding 6 lbs every other day of a 50/50 pellet with DDGS and SB hulls (80 pairs). Cows were fed from July 6 to September 15. Cost per head per day on the group fed pellets was $.185, with the cost of feeding wet DGS at$.045 per head per day. Dry conditions led to grass heights below 3.7 inches on the treated pastures on August 2, while the more diverse control pasture remained above five inches. Cows in all groups maintained body condition scores through weaning. The demonstration in Union County involved two herds: a control group of 30 pairs and another group of 30 receiving 5 pounds of a DDGS based cube fed very other day. Cost of supplementation in the treated group was $.25 per head per day. Forage availability was higher throughout the grazing period at this location. From August 2 to August 25 there was a larger numerical increase in pasture heights in the supplemented pasture (1.5 inches), compared to the control pasture (.14 inches). Condition scores in both groups decreased slightly. Calf weight per day of age was higher on the control group (3.06 pounds/day) compared to the supplemented group (2.83 pounds per day), perhaps due to higher prevalence of fescue. Supplementation at these low levels may be beneficial to the cattle, but no trends for grass substitution or animal performance can be drawn from this set of data

Fed Cattle Performance in Open Lots and Bedded Confinements

Fed cattle closeouts from the years 2007-2009 were analyzed to measure the difference in performance of cattle fed in open lots compared to cattle fed in bedded confinement buildings. Cattle fed in bedded confinements had better feed conversions and heavier finish weights then cattle fed in open lots. Cattle fed in bedded confinements also tended to have better daily gains then cattle fed in open lots