Structural and Operational Characteristics of Nebraska and Kansas Feeder-Cattle Growing Operations

The beef cattle industry is experiencing a significant increase in demand for feeder cattle. Current difficulties in obtaining sufficient numbers of feeder cattle on a continuing basis have put pressures on the feeder cattle marketing system that did not exist in the past. Feedlot operators, growers (backgrounders), and cow-herd operators are looking for ways and means of improving the system. Innovations are being tested. Those circumstances prompted personnel of the Agricultural Experiment Stations of Kansas and Nebraska to undertake a joint study of cattle marketing under a Regional Research Project

Non-parametric Modelling of Spatial Price Relationships

We apply non-parametric methods to a consideration of price transmission processes within US egg markets at the turn of the nineteenth century. Gordon (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 7833, 2000) labelled this as an era of 'Great Inventions' which contributed to the subsequent years of significant productivity growth and noted that the development of mechanical refrigeration and transportation technologies played an important role in this growth. Our models present certain advantages relative to parametric models traditionally employed in price transmission analyses. We compare results derived from local polynomial modelling with those obtained using non-linear threshold models. Both techniques suggest that US egg markets were interrelated at the turn of the nineteenth century. However, non-parametric techniques often suggest a higher degree of price transmission than that implied by threshold models. Results also suggest that threshold models may have difficulties in adequately capturing price relationship dynamics, especially when these are of a highly nonlinear nature. Copyright 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.