Factors Affecting Cow-Calf Herd Performance and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Tong Wang, Seong C. Park, Stan Bevers, Richard Teague and Jaesung Cho

Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2013, vol. 38, issue 3, 22

Abstract: A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier function is estimated for the cow-calf enterprises in the Texas Rolling Plains using Standardized Performance Analysis (SPA) data. We find that factors promoting higher herd productivity include machinery investment, pasture-quality improvement, and protein supplement. In contrast, herd productivity is compromised by a longer breeding season, percentage of hired labor, and deviation from mean annual rainfall. Interestingly, more technically efficient farms tend to emit fewer greenhouse gas units per unit of output. For example, net greenhouse gas emissions are 6.12 and -8.70 pounds of carbon equivalent, respectively, for farms with technical efficiency below 0.8 and above 0.96.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; Livestock Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:jlaare:165938

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.165938

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