Determinants of Farm Household Income Diversification in the United States: Evidence from Farm-Level Data

This study examines the determinants of income diversification of farm households in the United States. Farm households allocate their time between farm and off-farm activities to help stabilized household income (consumption). What characterizes those households who engage in off-farm activities? Is there any pattern over time? Using 1999, 2003 and 2007 farm-level data from the USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), this study estimates intensity of off-farm income (or income diversification). The results show that older operators, full owners, and small farms have higher intensity of off-farm income in total household income. In contrast, dairy farms, vertically coordinated farms and farms located in the Southern and Pacific regions have lower intensity of off-farm income. In other words, household incomes of these farms are less likely to be diversified.Tobit, income diversification, vertical integration, tenure, farm households, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, D1, J2, Q12,

Evaluation of the Water Footprint of Beef Cattle Production in Nebraska

Data were compiled on feed usage to model the amount of water needed to produce beef in typical Nebraska production systems. Production systems where cows were wintered on corn residue utilized 18% less water than systems utilizing native range as a wintering source, because of water allocations. Therefore, the water footprint (gallons of water required to produce one pound of boneless meat) was decreased by 18%. In addition, increasing the dietary inclusion of distillers grains from 0% to 40% decreased the water footprint in the finishing phase by 29%, again based on water allocation. Utilizing corn residue and distillers grains in Nebraska beef cattle systems decreases the overall water footprint of production. Additionally, the water footprint of the systems analyzed was 80% green water as rain, minimizing the environmental impact of beef production on freshwater use and ecological water balance

Evaluation of Revalor-XH for beef heifers fed different days on feed

Heifers were treated with either no implant, an initial implant of Revalor-200 and re-implanted with Revalor-200, or Revalor-XH and assigned to one of four serial slaughter harvests at 151, 165, 179, and 193 days on feed to determine the effects on feedlot performance and carcass characteristics. Implanting heifers increased final BW, ADG and HCW while decreasing marbling score and improving feed efficiency compared to non-implanted heifers. Increasing days on feed decreased ADG while increasing feed efficiency, HCW, fat thickness, marbling score, and calculated yield grade. By increasing HCW sold, implanting revenue can be maximized, assuming added risk for YG discounts

Letter of Request for Recognition & Acknowledgment and a General Order

Contains a letter of request for recognition & acknowledgment and a general order that grants the recognition

Effects of Urea and Distillers Inclusion in Finishing Diets on Steer Performance and Carcass Characteristics

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplemental urea in dry rolled corn based finishing diets containing low inclusions of distillers grains. Treatments were set up in a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement. The first factor was wet distillers inclusion at either 10, 15, or 20% of diet DM. The second factor was urea inclusion at either 0, 0.5, or 1.0% of diet dry matter. Increasing inclusion of distillers linearly improved feed conversion and linearly reduced dry matter intake. An interaction for feed efficiency was observed where there was no effect of added urea when 10% or 20% distillers was fed and a quadratic effect was observed when 15% distillers grains was fed where 0.5% urea appeared to be optimum. Added urea in a finishing diet with 20 or 10% distillers has minimal impact on finishing performance; however, feeding 0.5% urea in a 15% distillers diet may be beneficial

Effect of Adding Urea to Finishing Diets Containing Two Different Inclusions of Distillers Grains on Steer Performance and Carcass Characteristics

The effects of adding urea to a dry rolled corn based finishing diet containing low inclusions of distillers grains was evaluated. Treatments were designed as a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement with factors consisting of wet distillers inclusion (either 12 or 20% of diet DM) and urea inclusion (0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2% of diet DM). There were no significant interactions observed between distillers inclusion and urea inclusion in the diet. Increasing inclusion of distillers grains improved carcass adjusted average daily gain and feed conversion and reduced dry matter intake. Increasing distillers inclusion also increased 12th rib fat and had a tendency to increase hot carcass weight. There were no significant linear or quadratic responses for increasing urea inclusion in the diet. These data suggest that when feeding at least 12% distillers in the diet, supplemental urea has minimal impact on animal performance

Pooled Analysis of Individually Fed Finishing Trials

A pooled analysis of 21 finishing trials (2002–2016; 1530 animals) with cattle individually fed in Calan gate barns was conducted. Mixed model regression analysis following random coefficient methodology was used to evaluate relationships between performance variables and carcass characteristics. Gain had a greater effect on efficiency (R2 = 0.72) compared to intake (R2 = 0.02). The relationship between gain and efficiency was cubic, while intake had a quadratic relationship. The cubic response of gain relative to efficiency was continually increasing with relatively slight curves in the line heavily influenced by points that lay on the ends of the data. Efficiency also had cubic relationships with fat thickness and marbling of carcasses; however, the regressions had low R2 values of 0.01. There was a significant relationship between efficiency and fat thickness and marbling, but the variation around the trend line was high. Efficiency alone is a poor predictor of fat thickness and marbling

Comparison of Commercial Lick Tubs to Distillers Grains Supplementation for Calves Grazing Corn Residue

Steer calves grazing irrigated corn residue were supplemented dried distillers grains plus solubles (DGS) or allowedcontinuous access to a commercial lick tub. Dried DGS was fed at 2.94 lb/steer/day and the lick tubs were consumed at 2.04 lb/steer/day (DM basis). Gain was greater for cattle supplemented with dried DGS (1.36 lb/day) compared to those with access to lick tubs (0.83 lb/day). Supplement efficiency varied between calves receiving dried DGS (46%) and those with continuous access to the lick tub (43%) when expressed on a DM basis. Values for dried DGS supplementation (48%) were not different for supplement efficiencyon an OM basis when compared to cattle on the lick tub treatment (50%). Economic analysis shows that as the price of DGS increases, the difference in profit between supplementation strategiesis reduced

Evaluation of Changes in Nutritional Quality of Corn Residue Over Time

Irrigated corn residue was sampled across time in order to determine changes in quality and proportion of corn residue as the plant dried and was exposed to effects of weathering. Corn plants from two hybrids were planted on two different planting dates and harvested at periodic intervals from August 2012 to December 2012. Proportions of stem, blade/sheath, husk/shank, and cob made up smaller components of total plant DM as it matured, with the largest relative reduction occurring in the blade/sheath or stem. Hybrid impacted TDN values primarily because the 119 day hybrid was less mature at the early sampling dates

Evaluation of the effects of biochar on diet digestibility and methane production from growing and finishing steers

The objectives of these studies were to evaluate the effects of biochar (0%, 0.8%, or 3% of diet dry matter) on diet digestibility and methane and carbon dioxide production from cattle on growing and finishing diets. The growing diet consisted of 21% brome hay, 20% wheat straw, 30% corn silage, 22% wet distillers grains plus solubles, and 7% supplement. The finishing diet consisted of 53% dry-rolled corn, 15% corn silage, 25% wet distillers grains plus solubles, and 7% supplement. In both trials biochar replaced fine ground corn in the supplement. Six crossbred steers (initial body weight [BW] 529 kg; SD = 16 kg) were used in both the growing and finishing trial. The growing diets were evaluated over 6 periods followed by the finishing trial with 3 periods. Digestibility measures were taken over 4 d after at least 8 d of adaptation to diets followed by 2 d of gas emission measurements using headbox calorimeters. Dry matter intake (DMI) was not affected (P ≥ 0.43; 7.91 kg/d) by biochar inclusion in the growing study and increased quadratically (P = 0.07) in the finishing study with 0.8% biochar inclusion having the greatest DMI (12.9 kg/d). Organic matter (OM) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) digestibility increased quadratically (P = 0.10) in the growing study whereas OM digestibility tended to linearly decrease (P = 0.13) and NDF digestibility was not affected (P ≥ 0.39) by biochar inclusion in the finishing diet. Digestible energy intake (Mcal/d) was not affected (P ≥ 0.25) by biochar inclusion in the growing or finishing study. Methane production (g/d) tended to decrease quadratically (P = 0.14) in the growing study and was decreased 10.7% for the 0.8% biochar treatment relative to the control. There were no statistical differences in methane production (g/d) in the finishing study (P ≥ 0.32) but cattle on the 0.8% biochar treatment produced numerically less (9.6%) methane than the control. Methane production as g/kg DMI of the 0.8% biochar treatment relative to the control was numerically reduced 9.5% and 18.4% in the growing and finishing studies, respectively (P ≥ 0.13). Carbon dioxide production (g/d and g/kg of intake) quadratically decreased (P ≤ 0.06) in the growing study but was not affected by treatment in the finishing study (P ≥ 0.34). Although biochar is not a U.S. Food and Drug Administration -approved feed for cattle, the initial research shows potential as a methane mitigation strategy in both growing and finishing diets