The objective of this research is to incorporate the relationship between forage yields and rainfall levels to find optimal weights on insurance intervals using Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index (PRF-RI) insurance. Unlike earlier models, actuarial fairness of the insurance product is...

A consumer preference study that included willingness to pay and consumer sensory experiments was conducted for ground bison versus ground beef. A total of 82 subjects completed the study. The initial statistical analysis suggest that there is consistent consumer behavior with respect to...

A two-year study of early vs. normal weaning of steer calves was conducted in the western Dakotas in 2003-04. The analysis concludes that early weaning improves feedlot production efficiency and reduces per-day and per-pound feedlot production costs. However, early weaned steers are lighter at...

This article investigates the premium and discount incentive mechanisms in the fed cattle grid pricing system. A pooled cross-sectional dataset containing carcass information on 598 fed steers evaluated weekly on the AMS publically reported price grid was constructed for the years 2001 to 2008...

A seven year comparative study of grid pricing versus average pricing of slaughter cattle was conducted to evaluate carcass quality market signals. The primary objective of the study is to determine if market signals sent through the grid pricing system are encouraging producers to market on a...

In the Northern Great Plains region, crop and livestock producers view forage crop production as an important component of their farm management system. During periods of increased environmental risk, alternative annual forage crops may provide producers with a risk reducing alternative to...

Beef industry data suggest that improvements in carcass yield and quality grades have stagnated recently. Empirical analysis, based on USDA market reports, indicates that the share of steer slaughter volume marketed on a grid is less than industry estimates and the growth in market share has...

A mail survey is used to examine the consistency of alternative risk preference elicitation procedures using five commonly used methods. These elicitation procedures have been used in previous studies to characterise risk preference. Results show little consistency across procedures, supporting...

Agriculturally, South Dakota is a unique state possessing the highest rate of adoption for genetically modified crop varieties. In 2009 ninety-six percent of corn acres planted in South Dakota were genetically modified compared with eighty-five percent nationally (Economic Research Service)....