Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Profitability Determinants In South Dakota's Beef Cow/Calf Enterprise, Amy N. Singrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

South Dakota beef cow/calf producers who had completed a 2000 Standardized Performance Analysis were surveyed and interviewed to gain a better understanding of what personal characteristics and management factors may help determine profitability. Low, medium and high profitability categories were defined by calculating one standard deviation above or below a mean ROA. Producers were unaware of their profitability category at the time of the interview. Statistically significant differences were found in reference to the involvement of the operator in physical labor and management functions, and in the percentage of other family members involved in the management functions in the enterprise. …