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Adjustments in a Beef/Sheep Farm in Response to the Cattle Cycle: The Potential for Increased and More Stable Income

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Robert O. Burton Jr.
Affiliation:
Kansas State University Division of Resource Management, West Virginia University
J. Wesseh Wollo
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky Division of Resource Management, West Virginia University
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Abstract

A dynamic (multi-period) linear programming model of a beef/sheep farm was used to evaluate the potential for increasing income and for maintaining a specified level of annual income during a cattle cycle. Results indicate that both objectives may be accomplished by adjusting animal numbers in response to changing price ratios: a higher proportion of cows should be kept during the accumulation phase of the cattle cycle, and a higher proportion of ewes should be kept during the liquidation phase.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

Appreciation is expressed to Barton Baker, Orlan Buller, Margaret Burton, Dale Colyer, Anwarul Hoque, and Paul Nesselroad for helpful comments on earlier drafts. The authors are responsible for any errors. Published with the approval of the Director of the West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station as Scientific Article #1847. This research was partially supported with funds appropriated under the Hatch Act.

References

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