Nebraska Cow-Calf Operations: Use Of Pricing Tools And Market Diversification Strategies To Manage Market Risk, Logan Kalkowski

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis is the work of Logan Kalkowski with assistance and direction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and advisors Jay Parsons and Elliott J. Dennis. This thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter of this thesis investigates years of research and data collection from multiple agencies to find connections to reasoning for producers to choose marketing and diversification tools used in their operation.

The second chapter examines cow-calf marketing and risk management practices in Nebraska. Marketing and risk management behavior are examined by using the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cow-calf survey data collected in 2016. The survey captures characteristics …

Drought Decisions: Profit Maximizing Decisions During And After Drought Conditions, Robert Tigner, Elliott James Dennis

Extension Farm and Ranch Management News

In summary, using available price risk management tools can effectively reduce some of the market price risk variability that is inherent in agricultural production that are caused by either production or price risk.

Net Return Distributions When Metaphylaxis Is Used To Control Bovine Respiratory Disease In High Health-Risk Cattle, Elliott James Dennis, Ted C. Schroeder, David G. Renter

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

This study’s objective was to estimate net returns and return risk for antimicrobial metaphylaxis options to manage bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in high health-risk feedlot cattle. The effectiveness of antimicrobials for metaphylaxis varies by cattle population. How differing antimicrobial effectiveness translates to net return profitability for heterogeneous cattle populations is less understood. Net returns and return risk were assessed using a net return simulation model adapted to allow for heterogeneity in high health-risk cattle placement characteristics and antimicrobial choice to control BRD. The net return model incorporated how antimicrobials modify BRD health and performance outcomes. Health and performance outcomes were …

Examining The Capacity Of Nebraska Rangelands For Cattle Production And Evaluating Drought Management Strategies, Kaitlyn L. Cumming

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis has two chapters focusing on the grazing capacity of Nebraska rangelands, and drought management strategies. The first chapter conducts a gap analysis comparing forage supplied by perennial grasslands to the animal unit months (AUMs) required by the cattle. The purpose of this research was to quantify potential AUM supply (i.e., carrying capacity) of grazing lands dominated by perennial grasses on a regional basis in Nebraska to the AUM demand based on cattle inventories and standard production practices in each region of Nebraska. The results suggest that Nebraska is operating at 100% of potential carrying capacity. Harvest efficiency for …

Value Of Arrival Metaphylaxis In U.S. Cattle Industry, Elliott James Dennis, Ted C. Schroeder, David G. Renter, Dustin L. Pendell

Department of Agricultural Economics: Faculty Publications

Although several studies have estimated economic impacts of antimicrobials for growth promotion, little is known about economic impacts of the common animal health management strategy known as metaphylaxis: administering antimicrobials to groups of animals to prevent disease. This article develops a new framework to map animal disease to producer profitability and determine societal economic impacts surrounding metaphylactic use of antimicrobials in beef cattle production. Results indicate the direct net return value of metaphylaxis to the U.S. fed cattle industry is at least $532 million. Beef producer surplus losses of $1.8 billion would be associated with eliminating metaphylaxis.

Comparing Snp Panels And Statistical Methods For Estimating Genomic Breed Composition Of Individual Animals In Ten Cattle Breeds, Jun He, Yage Guo, Jiaqi Xu, Hao Li, Anna Fuller, Richard G. Tait Jr., Xiao-Lin Wu, Stewart Bauck

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: SNPs are informative to estimate genomic breed composition (GBC) of individual animals, but selected SNPs for this purpose were not made available in the commercial bovine SNP chips prior to the present study. The primary objective of the present study was to select five common SNP panels for estimating GBC of individual animals initially involving 10 cattle breeds (two dairy breeds and eight beef breeds). The performance of the five common SNP panels was evaluated based on admixture model and linear regression model, respectively. Finally, the downstream implication of GBC on genomic prediction accuracies was investigated and discussed in …

Does The Nebraska Livestock Friendly County Program Affect Livestock Expansion In The State?, Brian E. Mills

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Livestock production in Nebraska is a very essential part of the state’s economy with cash receipts from all livestock and products valued at $11.9 billion in 2013 (NDA 2015b). The Livestock Friendly County Program (LFCP) was instituted by the Nebraska Legislature in 2003 to further promote livestock development in the state. This thesis examines whether the program has had its intended impact for both cattle and hog farms. The analysis draws on the theory of long-run competitive equilibrium as a guide for the specification of the cattle and hog models. Three alternative specifications of the models using different sets of …

Nebraska's Animal Agriculture: Economic Impacts Of Cattle, Hog, Dairy, And Poultry Industry Changes., Bruce Johnson, Eric Thompson, Anil Giri, Tshepelayi Kabata

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Nebraska Animal Agriculture: Economic Impacts of Cattle, Hog, Dairy, and Poultry Industry Changes

Is Nebraska's agriculture system operating to its full potential? One concern is that the state exports a high proportion of its crop output as commodities. Also, while nearby states experienced significant livestock production growth Nebraska has not kept pace, particularly in hog and dairy production.

In light of these concerns, this report analyzes livestock expansion scenarios. It provides a set of economic performance measures to sub-state regions and county-level economies. These measures will allow economic considerations to be incorporated into stakeholders' decision-making processes.

The following scenarios were …

Influences Of Management Regimes On Breeding Bird Densities And Habitat In Mixed-Grass Prairie: An Example From North Dakota, Andrea A. Lueders, Patricia L. Kennedy, Douglas H. Johnson

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

It is well known that North American grassland bird populations appear to be declining (Igl and Johnson 1997, Sauer et al. 2004). Most of these birds breed and winter in North America, so declines are likely associated with continental processes (Knopf 1994). Scientists have also observed parallel declines among species that have overlapping breeding ranges but disparate wintering distributions (Igl and Johnson 1997). These patterns suggest declines may be linked to problems on the breeding grounds.

The Price Of Patriotism Alberta Cattlemen And The Loss Of The American Market, 1942-48, Max Foran

Great Plains Quarterly

One of the most controversial episodes in the history of the western Canadian cattle industry occurred during the years 1942-48 when the Canadian government imposed an embargo on Canadian cattle entering the United States. This unprecedented measure was a reaction to the extraordinary demands of the national war effort, and was accepted conditionally by the cattle industry as a necessary patriotic gesture. However, official wartime policies respecting this embargo, and its retention beyond the war until late 1948 were neither anticipated nor appreciated by western Canadian stockmen. Their efforts to restore a market deemed crucial to their industry's survival, and …

Assessing Factors That May Predispose Minnesota Farms To Wolf Depredations On Cattle, L. David Mech, Elizabeth K. Harper, Thomas J. Meier, William J. Paul

USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Wolf (Canis lupus) depredations on livestock cause considerable conflict and expense in Minnesota. Furthermore, claims are made that such depredations are fostered by the type of animal husbandry practiced. Thus, we tried to detect factors that might predispose farms in Minnesota to wolf depredations. We compared results of interviews with 41 cattle farmers experiencing chronic cattle losses to wolves (chronic farms) with results from 41 nearby "matched" farms with no wolf losses to determine farm characteristics or husbandry practices that differed and that therefore might have affected wolf depredations. We also used a Geographic Information System (GIS) to …