 An Economic Comparison Of Year Round vs Conventional Grazing Systems In IowaGary J. May, J. R. Russell, N. A. Janovick, John D. Lawrence, D. R. Strohbehn and D. G. Morrical Staff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics Abstract: Year round grazing systems that utilize stockpiled forage and/or crop residue are often promoted as a way for Northern and Western cow-calf producers to reduce winter feeding costs and improve overall profitability. This study compared the profitability of a conventional spring calving/summer grazing- winter drylot herd to a year round system that utilized both spring- and fall-calving herds with weaned calves retained as stockers. Forage supplies in the year round system were derived from stockpiled forage and corn crop residues. We developed a model that randomly generated production values with parameters based on the results of a 3-year study conducted at the Iowa State University McNay Research and Demonstration farm near Chariton, Iowa. The simulated production values were combined with livestock and forage prices prevailing from 1993-2001 to estimate income per head generated by each system. Average income over the nine- year period was equal. However, the year round system was economically superior in 3 years, equivalent in 1 year, and inferior in 5 years. Date: 2003-01-16 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:10178 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Staff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics Iowa State University, Dept. of Economics, 260 Heady Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1070. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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