United States Meat Goat Production Economic Performance Measures: A Stochastic Production Frontier Analysis

The meat goat industry is relatively a newcomer to the U.S. agricultural production and one of the fastest growing livestock industries in the U.S. Despite the growth of the meat goat industry, little is known about meat goat production economics. Information is needed concerning the drivers of production efficiency, optimum size of operation, and scope economies in the industry. A nationwide mail survey of U.S. meat goat producers who advertise their meat goat production via the internet for this efficiency analysis was conducted. Costs and returns data for 2011 expenses from those meat goat producers were collected. This survey was a follow-up to an earlier survey that focused on the marketing, technology, farmer attitudes and farm/farmer characteristics associated with U.S. meat goat production. Since the motivations for the follow-up costs and returns survey were to estimate U.S. meat goat farm efficiency and determine the efficiency drivers, we also used demographics and farm characteristics from the first meat goat survey. The input distance function analysis showed that the impact of specialization of farm production (percentage of income from the goat enterprise), the effect of production system, and the effect of targeted market on meat goat farm technical efficiency were significant. Off-farm work, education, experience, age and gender (female) have impacts on the technical efficiency of U.S. meat goat farms. Increasing returns to scale on U.S. meat goat farms suggests that producers can increase the size of their operations, resulting in less overall input usage per unit produced. Scope economies in Southeastern U.S. meat goat production suggest reduced long run average cost of production via diversification. The research results suggest that U.S. meat goat farms can be scale efficient if their optimal size of operation is greater than approximately 64 goats or greater than 40 breeding does. This research finding provides significant contributions to the U.S. meat goat industry. The increasing returns to scale finding suggests that the U.S. meat goat industry would benefit from significant increases in farm size. The U.S. Census results suggest the average meat goat farm includes 21 goats; our results show the size of operation that is scale efficient is 60 goats. Furthermore, in the Southeast, scope economies in meat goat production suggest diversification results in decrease total cost

Meat goat enterprise efficiency analysis in the Southeastern United States

© The Author(s) 2016. Meat goat enterprise efficiency was estimated using an input distance function (IDF) by applying stochastic production frontier techniques for the southeastern U.S. region. We found increasing returns to scale and scope economies for southeastern U.S. meat goat enterprises. Mean technical efficiency was 0.81. Our results suggest southeastern U.S. meat goat enterprises can be scale efficient if their size of operation is \u3e~60 goats or \u3e40 breeding does. Cost and IDF analyses show input expenses decreased substantially with increasing scale of operations in southeastern U.S. meat goat production. Empirical Monte Carlo simulation techniques show consistency of small-sample properties for the IDF

The Economics of Rotational Grazing in the Gulf Coast Region: Costs, Returns, and Labor Considerations, Phase II

Profitability and labor associated with rotational grazing at three stocking rates and continuous grazing at a medium stocking rate are compared. On a per-acre basis, profits are lowest for low stocking rate rotational grazing. Labor is greatest on both per-acre and per-cow bases with high stocking rate rotational grazing.Time and Motion Study, Conservation, Louisiana, Cow-Calf, Farm Management, Production Economics, Q16,

Women Farm Operators in the U.S. Meat Goat Production: Who is More Productive?

Costs and returns of female-operated meat goat farms are compared with those of male-operated meat goat farms using matching samples. Costs and returns data are used for both whole-farm and goat enterprise-level estimates. Female-operated meat goat farms are matched to male-operated meat goat farms on the basis of operation size, region, farmer demographics, and production systems. Results show for female-operated farms lower meat goat, breeding stock and total farm returns on total bases. On an enterprise basis, results show for female-operated farms, lower total fixed costs per breeding doe; meat goat, breeding stock, and total enterprise returns on total bases; and fixed and total costs on total bases

Efficiency Analysis of Southeastern U.S. Meat Goat Production

Technical efficiency, scale and scope economies, marginal productive contributions for inputs and outputs, and efficiency drivers were determined for the Southeastern U.S meat goat enterprise. The average technical efficiency was 0.88. We find increasing returns to scale and scope economies for Southeastern U.S. meat goat enterprises

PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN U.S. MEAT GOAT FARMS

This study determines efficiency drivers, scale and technical efficiencies, and other economic performance measures for Southeastern U.S. meat goat farms. We estimate an input distance function (IDF) using stochastic production frontier (SPF) techniques. Empirical Monte Carlo (MC) simulation techniques are employed to show the consistency of small-sample properties for the IDF

Analyzing the Costs and Returns of US Meat Goat Farms

This paper analyzes the costs and returns of meat goat farms for the US and Southeastern US region. We compare components of costs and returns of meat goat production based on operation size (small and large) and targeted marketing segment (slaughter, breeding/show, and mixed). Our costs and returns analyses show that input expenses decrease substantially with increasing scale of operation. Increasing the number of meat goats for small meat goat farms can lead to reduced input expenses per acre

Economic Performance Measures of Southeastern U.S. Cow-Calf Farms: Which Types of Farms Are the Most Efficient?

The objective of this study is to assess the technical efficiency and other economic performance measures of southeastern U.S. cow-calf farms. We describe and compare cow-calf operations by size, farm resource regions, and states, and measure their relative competitiveness. We estimate a Cobb- Douglas production function using stochastic production frontier (SPF) techniques. Our results suggest there is opportunity for most cow-calf operations to increase the efficiency of their operations