IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/agreko/347720.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of animal traits on feedlot profitability of Santa Gertrudis cattle in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Lombard, W. A.
  • Maré, F. A.
  • Jordaan, H.

Abstract

Approximately 75 per cent of South Africa’s beef is finished by feedlots. The profitability of the beef industry remains under pressure due to various external factors. Previous research has shown that many factors influence feedlot performance and profitability. It is, however, very difficult to judge an animal’s inherit feedlot performance before it enters the feedlot. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between the animal traits of Santa Gertrudis bulls and the feedlot profitability of these bulls. Analysed traits included the sheath score, capacity score and build score as high scores for these traits are believed to be associated with better feedlot performance. The data for this study was collected from 48 Santa Gertrudis bull calves. The profitability of feeding cattle was expressed as the Total Margin (TM) and Feed Margin (FM). Given the nature of the dependant variables, Ordinary Least Squared regressions were used for the analyses with TM and FM as dependent variables. Results show that although both models were significant, the sheath score was the only individual trait that proved to be significantly correlated with both TM and FM. Sheath score proved to be negatively correlated with TM and FM while it was expected, through popular belief, to be positively correlated. This implies that animals with lower sheath scores, thus with sheaths closer to their bodies, perform better in the feedlot and may affect the TM and FM positively. The magnitude of this trait still remains under question and further research is required.

Suggested Citation

  • Lombard, W. A. & Maré, F. A. & Jordaan, H., 2018. "The influence of animal traits on feedlot profitability of Santa Gertrudis cattle in South Africa," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 57(2), June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:347720
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.347720
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/347720/files/The%20influence%20of%20animal%20traits%20on%20feedlot%20profitability%20of%20Santa%20Gertrudis%20cattle%20in%20South%20Africa.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.347720?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. Gary Crow, 1997. "Estimating the Values of Cattle Characteristics Using an Ordered Probit Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 463-476.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Popp, Michael P. & Faminow, Merle D. & Parsch, Lucas D., 1998. "Adoption Of Backgrounding On Cow-Calf Farms," 1998 Annual meeting, August 2-5, Salt Lake City, UT 20800, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    2. Harrison, R. Wes & Gillespie, Jeffrey M. & Fields, Deacue, 2001. "Theoretical And Empirical Considerations Of Eliciting Preferences And Model Estimation In Conjoint Analysis," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20680, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    3. Horna, J. Daniela & Smale, Melinda & von Oppen, Matthias, 2005. "Private Participation In Agricultural Extension In Nigeria And Benin: Determining The Willingness To Pay For Information," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19401, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    4. Horna, J. Daniela & Smale, Melinda & Oppen, Matthias Von, 2007. "Farmer willingness to pay for seed-related information: rice varieties in Nigeria and Benin," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(6), pages 799-825, December.
    5. Harrison, R. Wes & Mclennon, Everald, 2004. "Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Biotech Labeling Formats," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 36(01), pages 1-13, April.
    6. Kamuanga, Mulumba & d'Iteren, G & Tano, K & Jabbar, Mohammad A. & Swallow, B M & PoKou, K, 2001. "Farmers’ preferences of cattle breeds, their market values and prospects for improvement in West Africa – a summary review," Research Reports 182892, International Livestock Research Institute.
    7. Aguilar, Francisco X. & Daniel, Marissa “Jo” & Cai, Zhen, 2014. "Family-forest Owners’ Willingness to Harvest Sawlogs and Woody Biomass: The Effect of Price on Social Availability," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 0, pages 1-21.
    8. Harrison, R. Wes & Gillespie, Jeffrey & Fields, Deacue, 2005. "Analysis of Cardinal and Ordinal Assumptions in Conjoint Analysis," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 238-252, October.
    9. Tano, Kouadio & Kamuanga, Mulumba & Faminow, Merle D. & Swallow, Brent, 2003. "Using conjoint analysis to estimate farmer's preferences for cattle traits in West Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 393-407, July.
    10. Aguilar, Francisco X., 2009. "Investment preferences for wood-based energy initiatives in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2292-2299, June.
    11. Popp, Michael P. & Faminow, Merle D. & Parsch, Lucas D., 1999. "Factors Affecting The Adoption Of Value-Added Production On Cow-Calf Farms," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 31(01), pages 1-12, April.
    12. Evelyne Gbénou-Sissinto & Ygué P. Adegbola & Gauthier Biaou & Roch C. Zossou, 2018. "Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for New Storage Technologies for Maize in Northern and Central Benin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-21, August.
    13. L. Zaibet & S. Traore & A. Ayantunde & K. Marshall & N. Johnson & M. Siegmund-Schultze, 2011. "Livelihood strategies in endemic livestock production systems in sub-humid zone of West Africa: trends, trade-offs and implications," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 87-105, February.
    14. Ndjeunga, Jupiter & Nelson, Carl H., 2000. "Toward Understanding Household Preference For Millet Varieties In The West African Semi-Arid Tropics," 2000 Annual meeting, July 30-August 2, Tampa, FL 21883, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    15. Aguilar, Francisco X. & Vlosky, Richard P., 2007. "Consumer willingness to pay price premiums for environmentally certified wood products in the U.S," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(8), pages 1100-1112, May.
    16. Kaval, Pamela & Loomis, John B., 2005. "The Relationship Between Wildfire and Welfare," 2005 Conference, August 26-27, 2005, Nelson, New Zealand 98517, New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    17. Blank, Steven C. & Saitone, Tina & Sexton, Richard & Kalotia, Kabir & Forero, Larry & Nader, Glenn, 2011. "Location and distance effects on western calf and yearling prices," 2011 Annual Meeting, June 29-July 1, 2011, Banff, Alberta,Canada 291744, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    18. Harrison, R. Wes & Sambidi, Pramod R., 2004. "A Conjoint Analysis of the U.S. Broiler Complex Location Decision," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 639-655, December.
    19. Holt, John D. & Fields, Deacue & Prevatt, J. Walter & Kriese-Anderson, Lisa, 2004. "Producer Valuation Of Herd Bull Characteristics," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20214, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Pamela Kaval, 2006. "The Relationship between Well-Being and Wildfire," Working Papers in Economics 06/14, University of Waikato.

    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:agreko:347720. 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/aeasaea.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.