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Estimating Desirable Cattle Traits Using Latent Class And Mixed Logit Models: A Choice Modeling Application To The U.S. Grass-Fed Beef Industry, Isaac Sitienei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the preferences for cattle traits using mixed logit and latent class models. Choice experiment data from a 2013 mail survey of 1,052 U.S. grass-fed beef producers were used. The findings indicate that grass-fed beef producers generally preferred lower-priced, heavy animals that were small-to-medium framed and easy to handle for grass-finishing. Black animals that were retained from their own calves were preferred. Relative to intact males, steers and heifers were preferred. Except for the estimated parameter for the weight attribute, the standard deviations for the temperament, body frame, source, color, gender, and price attribute levels were significant at …