Empirical animal performance data is used in evaluating the decision to convert toxic endophyte fescue to novel endophyte fescue. Results indicate that producers at three risk aversion levels prefer replacing their existing toxic fescue stands when the expected stand life for novel endophyte...

Elasticities calculated from an econometric model of cost of gain (COG) for cattle in feedlots indicate that COG is considerably less responsive to corn price changes than breakeven budgets assume. This difference in elasticities can lead to substantial errors in COG estimates obtained from...

Although several studies have estimated the costs of country-of-origin labeling (COOL), no previous study has documented how these costs will be distributed across the livestock sector or how producer and consumer welfare will be affected. This analysis presents an equilibrium displacement model...

Optimal hedge ratios on feeder steers for four different locations are estimated. Simulate hedging outcomes are evaluated to determine differences in hedging risk across locations. Results indicate that location explains little of the differences in risk, though hedging risk in Georgia is...

The accelerated depreciation laws provide more revenue in earlier years of a new asset due to shielding of taxes. The laws seem designed to encourage farmers to purchase assets more often. This paper exams the optimal purchase period for a beef cattle farm buying replacement cows. While the...

This paper addresses the quality and value of data derived from ultrasound technology. It attempts to determine whether or not ultrasound is a strong enough predictor of beef carcass quality grade to be an economical tool used to improve the current state of the beef industry.

Stochastic simulation of daily slaughter level was used in conjunction with an estimated packing plant cost curve to assess potential reductions in processing costs due to improved vertical coordination between feedlots and packing plants. Results indicate that processing cost reductions of $1...

Since 2002, the Renewable Fuels Standard has established mandated levels of ethanol blending in gasoline. Mandated ethanol use represents an important component of ethanol demand. Thus, the ethanol mandates influence derived demand for corn. This work investigates the potential impact of ethanol...

Several recent papers have used annual changes and monthly data to estimate demand systems. Such use of overlapping data introduces a moving average error term. This paper shows how to obtain consistent and asymptotically efficient estimates of a demand system using seasonally differenced data....