ECONOMICS OF BEEF COW CULLING AND REPLACEMENT DECISIONS UNDER GENETIC PROGRESS

Beef cow managers annually face the question of which animals to cull from the herd and replace. The results of this decision affect not only current revenues, but, by altering the genetic composition of the herd, also affect the future profitability of the herd. These genetic changes of the herd may, therefore, be represented as a form of endogenous technological progress to the cow calf producer. This article derives general asset replacement criteria for assets undergoing either exogenous or endogenous progress and illustrates their application with a Florida cow herd example.Livestock Production/Industries,

THE ECONOMICS OF CARCASS BEEF PRODUCTION: AN APPRAISAL OF FLORIDA'S FEEDLOT POTENTIAL

Livestock Production/Industries,

Estimation and analysis of beef gain roughage-concentrate production functions

Through the 1960s and early 1970s, many cattle feeders formulated feedlot rations composed primarily of grains. Rations high in grain were relatively inexpensive and economical. For example, Scott and Broadbent [20] constructed a programming model in 1972 that utilized the California net energy system as developed by Lofgreen and Garett [16] and adopted by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to estimate economical rations. They concluded, In most feedlot operations, it appears that the maximum possible rate of gain w ill be most profitable under usual price relationships” [20, p. 24]. Although maximizing rate of gain is a biological objective, it was congruent with the economic objective of maximizing profits. Therefore, there were several reasons for little interest in investigating the trade-off or substitution rates between roughages and concentrates in the beef feeding ration. First, concentrates were relatively inexpensive. Second, addition of roughages to rations generally reduces rate of gain. A longer time on feed thus increases the nonfeed costs, such as labor, yardage fees, and carrying charges, and reduces the annual volume of a lot. Third, roughages generally are bulkier and more difficult to handle than concentrates. They may require more expensive equipment and large long-term capital investments. Fourth, many feedlots were designed and constructed to provide high-concentrate rations. Hence, little effort was exerted toward investigating the rate of substitution between roughages and concentrates

ECONOMICS OF BEEF COW CULLING AND REPLACEMENT DECISIONS UNDER GENETIC PROGRESS

Beef cow managers annually face the question of which animals to cull from the herd and replace. The results of this decision affect not only current revenues, but, by altering the genetic composition of the herd, also affect the future profitability of the herd. These genetic changes of the herd may, therefore, be represented as a form of endogenous technological progress to the cow calf producer. This article derives general asset replacement criteria for assets undergoing either exogenous or endogenous progress and illustrates their application with a Florida cow herd example

NAFTA AND U.S.-MEXICAN BEEF TRADE: LONG-RUN IMPLICATIONS FOR CHANGES IN TRADE FLOWS FROM TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERS

This study examines potential long-term impacts on the U.S. and Mexican beef industries of the reduction in trade barriers under NAFTA and likely associated international technology transfers (of beef cattle, feeding methods, and meat packing) and foreign capital investments. The beef industry is represented as four subsectors: cow-calf production, post-weaning beef production, meat packing, and leather production. The analysis is accomplished through a multi-sector model of the U.S. and Mexican beef industries, estimation of key parameters, and simulation of long-run outcomes under three alternative scenarios. Our results show that Mexico will dramatically expand the size of its cow herd. The expanded supply and lower post-slaughter processing cost in Mexico give it a comparative advantage in beef production, despite most of the feed grain requirement being met from U.S. exports. Mexico is able to expand its exports of feeder calves significantly when technology is transferred and to become a beef exporter. Beef prices in both countries decrease in real terms. We conclude the U.S. beef producers cannot be optimistic about the long-run potential for beef exports to Mexico but much better prospects exist for U.S. feed grain exports

THE INCLUSION OF BEEF CATTLE IN THE OPTIMAL ENTERPRISE ORGANIZATION

A profit maximizing model that included many of the diverse aspects of beef cattle production and interrelationships among beef cattle, forages and field crops was developed within a dynamic linear programming framework. The optimal resource organization was determined given price levels that existed during 1973-1977. Key Words: Field crops, forages, beef cattle, dynamic linear programming and optimal programs

Estimation of Crop Water Response and Economic Optimization for Continuously Growing Crops

Further insight is provided regarding an appropriate model of cropwater response for continuously growing crops. A dated input.production function was estimated for pineapple oranges in Florida. Generalized least squares regression techniques were used to ameliorate the effects of contemporaneously and serially correlated errors. The continuously growing citrus crops also lead to :{ac torially determined product ion re-. lations over time. This causes the economic optimum level of water to apply in any given time period to be a function of water applied in the past and expectations for the future

Optimal Breed Choices for Commercial Cow-Calf Prodution in the Texas Panhandle: An Application of Bio-Economic Modelling to Breed Evaluations.

24 p