This research examines returns to cattle feeding operations that sort animals prior to marketing using ultrasound technology. The returns to sorting are between $11 and $25 per head depending on the number of groups the pens into which cattle can be sorted. Sorting faces declining returns. These...

This paper addresses the economic impacts of swine growth variability. Different economic penalties are determined to be associated with over-finishing versus under-finishing an animal. Marketing decisions based on the pen average are determined to be insignificantly less than optimal for a case...

This paper addresses the economic impacts of growth variability on market timing decisions in an all-in, all-out production system. Marketing decisions based on the pen average are determined to be different than those based on the entire distribution of output levels. A case study data set of...