Agriculture Commons^™

Incorporation Of Summer Annual Mixtures Into Grazing Systems In Kentucky, Kelly Marie Mercier

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Utilizing summer annual grass-legume forage mixtures has the potential to improve forage yield and nutritive characteristics, and/or animal performance during times when cool-season pasture growth is limited by high temperatures. Legumes can utilize atmospheric nitrogen, which can increase crude protein and forage digestibility in mixtures. As nitrogen application generally improves both the yield and nutritive characteristics of summer annual forages, but can have a negative effect on legume competitiveness, nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for legume-containing summer annual mixtures are not well established.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of utilizing summer annual mixtures in Kentucky, USA. The first experiment …

An Economic Feasibility Assessment Of Autonomous Field Machinery In Grain Crop Production, Jordan Murphy Shockley, Carl R. Dillon, Scott A. Shearer

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

A multi-faceted whole farm planning model is developed to compare conventional and autonomous machinery for grain crop production under various benefit, farm size, suitable field day risk aversion, and grain price scenarios. Results suggest that autonomous machinery can be an economically viable alternative to conventional manned machinery if the establishment of intelligent controls is cost effective. An increase in net returns of 24% over operating with conventional machinery is found when including both input savings and a yield increase due to reduced compaction. This study also identifies the break-even investment price for intelligent controls for the safe and reliable commercialization …

On-Farm Utilization Of Precision Dairy Monitoring: Usefulness, Accuracy, And Affordability, Elizabeth A. Eckelkamp

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Precision dairy monitoring is used to supplement or replace human observation of dairy cattle. This study examined the value dairy producers placed on disease alerts generated from a precision dairy monitoring technology. A secondary objective was calculating the accuracy of technology-generated disease alerts compared against observed disease events. A final objective was determining the economic viability of investing in a precision dairy monitoring technology for detecting estrus and diseases.

A year-long observational study was conducted on four Kentucky dairy farms. All lactating dairy cows were equipped with a neck and leg tri-axial accelerometer. Technologies measured eating time, lying time, standing …

Compost Bedded Pack Barns For Dairy Cattle: Bedding Performance And Mastitis As Compared To Sand Freestalls, Elizabeth A. Eckelkamp

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Lameness and mastitis are the two most costly diseases in the dairy industry. Reduction of these diseases through housing and management is beneficial. Compost bedded pack (CBP) and sand freestall barns were compared in a long-term, on-farm study to assess the effect of housing on each disease. Another research objective was to evaluate the effects of ambient weather conditions on moisture and 20 cm internal temperature of CBP. Compost bedded pack moisture, C:N ratio, and internal temperature effects on cleanliness, mastitis, and bedding bacterial counts were also considered. The last research objective was to evaluate the economics of bedding material …

Economics Of Food And Agriculture, David L. Debertin

Agricultural Economics Textbook Gallery

This is a heavily‐revised version of an introductory agricultural economics textbook, Economics of Food and Agriculture, that was originally published by Kendall Hunt in 1990. The material is intended for use as a series of classroom presentations for an introductory agricultural economics course. No mathematics prerequisites other than basic algebra are required.

Applied Microeconomics: Consumption, Production And Markets, David L. Debertin

Agricultural Economics Textbook Gallery

This is a microeconomic theory book designed for upper-division undergraduate students in economics and agricultural economics. This is a free pdf download of the entire book. As the author, I own the copyright. Amazon markets bound print copies of the book at amazon.com at a nominal price for classroom use. The book can also be ordered through college bookstores using the following ISBN numbers:

• ISBN‐13: 978‐1475244342
• ISBN-10: 1475244347

Basic introductory college courses in microeconomics and differential calculus are the assumed prerequisites. The last, tenth, chapter of the book reviews some mathematical principles basic to the other chapters. All of the …