The communal (former homeland) areas of South Africa are characterised by high concentrations of black people many of whom live in extreme poverty. In recent years this has been exacerbated by the collapse of state-run farmer assistance schemes, which has resulted in very low levels of agricultural production in these areas. The new South African government has proposed the revitalisation of small-scale agriculture as an important mechanism for uplifting rural livelihoods here. This research was undertaken in the former homeland of Ciskei, in what is now central Eastern Cape Province. Here agricultural decline has resulted in large areas of land designated for crop production lying fallow in the long term. Livestock production offers greater livelihood potential in this region, and it was therefore posited that this essentially abandoned cropland might be better utilised as a permanent grazing resource for livestock, particularly cattle. The research sought to characterise current levels and patterns of utilisation of arable land by livestock and how this land might be more effectively managed as a grazing resource and thereby improve levels of livestock production. Enormous variation was found in the contribution made by arable land allocations to cattle production systems in communal areas of this region. From a social perspective grazing management systems were found to depend largely on the availability of grazing resources. Where these were plentiful, control was exercised at a communal level although this tended to devolve to the individual level as grazing areas became overutilised. Considerable variation was also evident at the ecological level. Pasture quantity and quality was largely dependent on local ecotopes and land management strategies. This in turn exerted a strong influence on cattle foraging behaviour and the extent to which they could satisfy their nutritional intake requirements and thereby maintain bogy condition. Recommendations are advanced for improving cattle production systems, which take adequate account of the social and ecological heterogeneity of the central Eastern Cape region.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to learn the reasons for the movement of cattle Into San Juan County, Utah, the development of the Industry, and its contribution to the growth of the county.The few written accounts in existence of the cattle industry in San Juan are brief and found in widely separate areas. The whole and complete account will likely never be written, but there is need for gathering as much of the scattered information as possible.A study of the early history of the inhabitants of San Juan was made, along with an examination of the geography of the region, and of early explorations into the area. The first inhabitants were likely a group of Pueblo Indians whose cultural remains indicate that they were a settled people with a higher standard of living than the Indians who succeeded them. The latter group was represented In three tribes, the Navajos, Flutes, and the Utes.

Prolonged imbalances between feeder cattle costs and the pricing opportunities being offered cause highly variable placements of cattle into feedlots and variability in fed cattle prices. Such variability imposes costs on everyone in the system, from producer to consumer. Cattle feeders are in a position to exert the influence of very current and highly specific information on costs of feeding into trading levels for live cattle and feeder cattle futures. The tax treatment of speculative trades in the cattle futures markets has the potential to block participation of cattle feeders. To the extent that cattle feeders are effectively blocked from trading in futures in any capacity other than trades that meet the IRS "equal and opposite" criterion of a hedge, the correction of market imbalances may be impended. The economic viability of investments in cattle feeding can be influenced in a significant way by those market imbalances. This research examines the interaction of traders in the risk transfer and price discovery process in the live cattle markets. Econometric models over disaggregated data sets were developed to explain expected margin behavior in response to the changes in the positions held by identifiable and specific trader groups. In addition, trader behavior reactions to the levels of the feeding margins offered by the distant live cattle futures were examined. A weekly data series was constructed using the daily records of reporting trader positions in the live cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Feeding margins offered by the futures were calculated using cash prices for feeder cattle and feed fixed at the time of placements of feeder cattle on feed. The analysis was for the 1983-1987 period. The analysis indicates that increases in large, long (short) trading activity were associated with increases (decreases) in the expected margin offered by the futures. More importantly, the behavior of large speculators were found to exert a constraining influence on margin changes and to start the market correction at extreme levels of negative margins. This implies that cattle feeders, trading as large traders, could contribute to correcting the market imbalances if they were allowed to fully participate in the price discovery process. / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1984 W365 / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The closure of the US border to Canadian live cattle and beef products after the confirmation of a single Canadian BSE case in May, 2003 seriously jeopardized the Canadian beef cattle industry, which had relied heavily on exports. The inventory of cattle rapidly increased and farmers were paid record low prices for live cattle. But at the same time, the cattle slaughtering industry experienced a substantial increase in profits. The enlarged price spread between the value of live cattle and beef steak raised concerns about oligopsony market power in the live cattle market. This thesis investigates the hypothesis that the Canadian slaughtering industry exercised this market power in the months following the discovery of BSE. Two models, the conjectural variation model from the New Empirical Industrial Organization and an asymmetric price transmission model were used and the results from both models do not support the hypothesis of oligopsony market power.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar e quantificar os fatores inerentes ao leilão que afetam o preço de venda de bezerros de corte. Foram coletados em 148 leilões nas cidades de Dois Vizinhos e Francisco Beltrão dados referentes ao preço de venda (PV), local (L) e mês (M) da realização do leilão,grupo genético (GG) e tamanho do lote (TL), peso médio (PE) e sexo (S) dos animais.Foram observados 4.312 lotes correspondendo a 48.588 animais pesando entre 100 e 250 kg de janeiro de 2004 a dezembro de 2014. Os lotes foram classificados de acordo com suas características, em sete grupos genéticos. Nos lotes B, C e Z, predominaram animais de raças Britânicas, Continentais e Zebuínas, respectivamente. Enquanto que, para os grupos BC, BZ e CZ, admitiram-se os seus cruzamentos. Os lotes denominados XX não eram homogêneos geneticamente. Os valores foram deflacionados através do IGP-DI e atenderam os pressupostos paramétricos. O preço de venda foi padronizado em função da mediana anual, assumindo-se que seu valor corresponde a 100%, e os demais valores variaram em sua função. As análises foram realizadas através de funções desenvolvidas e pacotes do software R. A análise de trilha quantificou os efeitos diretos e indiretos das variáveis tomadas como explicativas sobre o preço de venda, em seguida realizaram-se análises de regressão e teste de Tukey. No geral o efeito direto do peso médio foi o maior (0,7), seguido do sexo (0,38). O menor efeito direto foi do grupo genético (-0,075) e do local (-0,04). Observou-se relação exponencial crescente entre peso médio do lote e preço de venda, e relação decrescente (-0,0003 pontos percentuais por quilograma) entre preço kg-1 e peso médio do lote, onde os machos, no geral, foram 15,74% mais valorizados que as fêmeas. O cruzamento entre raças Britânicas x Zebuínas foi o grupo genético mais valorizado, não diferindo das Britânicas (8,93 e 3,57%, respectivamente). E a comercialização no mês de novembro alcançou a maior bonificação, seguida de fevereiro (9,57 e 8,84%, respectivamente, sempre em relação a mediana do ano). O preço de venda cresce linearmente 0,3284 pontos percentuais para cada animal acrescido no lote. Concluiu-se que o peso médio do lote é a variável mais importante na formação do preço de venda, seguido do sexo dos animais. / The objective of this study was to determine and quantify the inherent factors auction that affect the selling price of beef calves. The data were collected in 148 auctions in the cities of Dois Vizinhos and Francisco Beltrao on the selling price (PV), location (L) and month (M) of the auction, genetic group (GG) and lot size (TL) average weight (PE) and sex (S) of animals. 4,312 lots corresponding to 48,588 animals weighing between 100 and 250 kg of January 2004 to December 2014 were observed were classified according to their characteristics in seven genetic groups. In lots B, C and Z, predominated animal breeds British, Continental and Zebu, respectively. While, for BC and BZ CZ groups were admitted their cross. Lots called XX were not genetically homogeneous. The values were deflated by the IGP-DI and met the parametric assumptions. The selling price was standardized by the yearly median, assuming that its value corresponds to 100%, and the other values varied in their function. Analyses were performed by developed functions and software packages R. Path analysis quantified the direct and indirect effects of the variables taken as explanatory of the selling price, then were carried out regression analyzes and Tukey test. Overall the direct effect of the average weight was the highest (0.7), followed by gender (0.38). The smaller direct effect was the genetic group (-0.075) and location (-0.04). There was growing exponential relationship between average weight of the lot and selling price, and decreasing ratio (-0.0003 percentage point per kilogram) between kg-1 price and average weight of the lot, where the males, in general, were 15.74% more valued than females. The cross between British x Zebu breeds was the most valued genetic group did not differ from the British (8.93 and 3.57%, respectively). And the market in November reached the highest bonus, followed by February (9.57 and 8.84%, respectively, always compared to median year). The selling price increases linearly 0.3284 percentage points for each animal plus in the lot. It was concluded that the average weight of the lot is the most important variable in the formation of the selling price, followed by the sex of the animals.