IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/afbmau/122520.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Achieving fat score targets: the costs and benefits

Author

Listed:
  • Graham, Phillip
  • Hatcher, Sue

Abstract

The national Lifetime Wool project has quantified the production benefits that accrue to a breeding flock of Merino ewes from actively managing their fat score at critical stages of the reproductive cycle. The GrassGro™ model was used to simulate the profitability of achieving three fat score targets (i.e. FS2.5, FS3-4% lambing and FS3-10% lambing) for a predominately grazing region (Yass) of NSW and a sheep/cereal region (Parkes). In both regions the FS3-10% flock had the highest gross margin but was also the riskiest option in terms of the variation in gross margin during the simulation period. In all cases the key driver of gross margin was the amount (and therefore cost) of supplement required to meet the fat score targets which highlights the importance of meeting the fat score targets using pasture and matching the breeding cycle to pasture availability. Merino producers can use this information to make informed decisions regarding whether or not to feed in dry years.

Suggested Citation

  • Graham, Phillip & Hatcher, Sue, 2006. "Achieving fat score targets: the costs and benefits," AFBM Journal, Australasian Farm Business Management Network, vol. 3(2), pages 1-14.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:afbmau:122520
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.122520
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/122520/files/Graham%20_%20Hatcher%205.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.122520?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moore, A. D. & Donnelly, J. R. & Freer, M., 1997. "GRAZPLAN: Decision support systems for Australian grazing enterprises. III. Pasture growth and soil moisture submodels, and the GrassGro DSS," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 535-582, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heard, Joanna & Malcolm, Bill & Jackson, T. & Tocker, J. & Graham, P. & White, A., 2013. "Whole farm analysis versus activity gross margin analysis: a sheep farm example," AFBM Journal, Australasian Farm Business Management Network, vol. 10, pages 1-14.
    2. Jackson, Thomas & Heard, J. & Malcolm, Bill, 2014. "System changes to a lamb farm in south-west Victoria: some pre-experimental modelling," AFBM Journal, Australasian Farm Business Management Network, vol. 11, pages 1-18.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asseng, Senthold & Thomas, Dean & McIntosh, Peter & Alves, Oscar & Khimashia, Nirav, 2012. "Managing mixed wheat–sheep farms with a seasonal forecast," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 50-56.
    2. Thamo, Tas & Addai, Donkor & Kragt, Marit E. & Kingwell, Ross S. & Pannell, David J. & Robertson, Michael J., 2019. "Climate change reduces the mitigation obtainable from sequestration in an Australian farming system," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(4), October.
    3. Donnelly, J. R. & Freer, M. & Moore, A. D., 1998. "Using the GrassGro decision support tool to evaluate some objective criteria for the definition of exceptional drought," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 301-313, July.
    4. Browne, Natalie & Kingwell, Ross S. & Behrendt, Ralph & Eckard, Richard, 2012. "Comparing the profitability of sheep, beef, dairy and grain farms in southwest Victoria under different rainfall scenarios," 2012 Conference (56th), February 7-10, 2012, Fremantle, Australia 124249, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    5. Harrison, Matthew T. & Jackson, Tom & Cullen, Brendan R. & Rawnsley, Richard P. & Ho, Christie & Cummins, Leo & Eckard, Richard J., 2014. "Increasing ewe genetic fecundity improves whole-farm production and reduces greenhouse gas emissions intensities," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 23-33.
    6. Brown, Peter D. & Cochrane, Thomas A. & Krom, Thomas D., 2010. "Optimal on-farm irrigation scheduling with a seasonal water limit using simulated annealing," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(6), pages 892-900, June.
    7. Browne, Natalie & Kingwell, Ross & Behrendt, Ralph & Eckard, Richard, 2013. "The relative profitability of dairy, sheep, beef and grain farm enterprises in southeast Australia under selected rainfall and price scenarios," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 35-44.
    8. Lo, Yueh-Hsin & Blanco, Juan A. & Canals, Rosa M. & González de Andrés, Ester & San Emeterio, Leticia & Imbert, J. Bosco & Castillo, Federico J., 2015. "Land use change effects on carbon and nitrogen stocks in the Pyrenees during the last 150 years: A modeling approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 312(C), pages 322-334.
    9. White, Robin R. & Brady, Michael & Capper, Judith L. & Johnson, Kristen A., 2014. "Optimizing diet and pasture management to improve sustainability of U.S. beef production," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1-12.
    10. Tinsley, Ty L. & Chumbley, Steven & Mathis, Clay & Machen, Richard & Turner, Benjamin L., 2019. "Managing cow herd dynamics in environments of limited forage productivity and livestock marketing channels: An application to semi-arid Pacific island beef production using system dynamics," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 78-93.
    11. Oomen, Roelof J. & Ewert, Frank & Snyman, Hennie A., 2016. "Modelling rangeland productivity in response to degradation in a semi-arid climate," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 322(C), pages 54-70.
    12. Sosheel S. Godfrey & Thomas Nordblom & Ryan H. L. Ip & Susan Robertson & Timothy Hutchings & Karl Behrendt, 2021. "Drought Shocks and Gearing Impacts on the Profitability of Sheep Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, April.
    13. Lewis, C.D. & Jacobs, J.L. & Smith, K.F. & Behrendt, R. & Malcolm, Bill, 2013. "Potential returns and risk of growing aluminium-tolerant lucerne in a grazing system with acidic soils located in the high rainfall zone," AFBM Journal, Australasian Farm Business Management Network, vol. 10, pages 1-15.
    14. Behrendt, Karl & Cacho, Oscar J. & Scott, James M. & Jones, Randall E., 2009. "Bioeconomic analysis of fertiliser input costs on pasture resource management under climatic uncertainty," 2009 Conference (53rd), February 11-13, 2009, Cairns, Australia 47628, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    15. Perillat, B. J. & Brown, W. J. & Cohen, R. D. H., 2004. "A risk efficiency analysis of backgrounding and finishing steers on pasture in Saskatchewan, Canada," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 213-233, June.
    16. Moore, A.D. & Holzworth, D.P. & Herrmann, N.I. & Huth, N.I. & Robertson, M.J., 2007. "The Common Modelling Protocol: A hierarchical framework for simulation of agricultural and environmental systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 95(1-3), pages 37-48, December.
    17. Jones, Randall E. & Kemp, David R. & Michalk, David & Takahashi, Taro, 2008. "The on-farm impact of alternative grazing management options to improve sustainability in western Chinese grasslands," 2008 Conference (52nd), February 5-8, 2008, Canberra, Australia 6019, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    18. Moore, A.D. & Robertson, M.J. & Routley, R., 2011. "Evaluation of the water use efficiency of alternative farm practices at a range of spatial and temporal scales: A conceptual framework and a modelling approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 162-174, February.
    19. McPhee, Malcolm J. & Evered, Mark & Andrews, Todd & Pacheco, David & Dougherty, Holland C. & Ingham, Aaron B. & Harden, Steven & Crean, Jason & Roche, Leslie & Eastburn, Danny J. & Oltjen, James W. & , 2019. "Beef production simulation of nitrate and lipid supplements for pasture and rangeland fed enterprises," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 19-27.
    20. Ghahramani, Afshin & Moore, Andrew D., 2015. "Systemic adaptations to climate change in southern Australian grasslands and livestock: Production, profitability, methane emission and ecosystem function," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 158-166.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Farm Management;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:afbmau:122520. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afbmnea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.