Livestock Production

Question 1

What are cows fed at feedlots?

Answer 1

mostly corn, ethanol byproducts

Question 2

What are cow-calf operations?

Answer 2

produce the input for the feedlot
long term asset is the mother cow and the land for grazing
the longer the cows life, the higher the ROI
calves are produced on small farms
still broadly spread across country

Question 3

What is the stocker industry?

Answer 3

weaned calf goes for backgrounding
grazed for a single season
not investing in cows (time, $)
value-added to pasture system

Question 4

What is the feeder industry?

Answer 4

final stage

heavy grain feeding to fatten cow to desired weight for slaughter

Question 5

What is the purebred industry?

Answer 5

incorporates genetic improvements
looking for: birth weight, average daily gains, calving ease
feedlot industry is heavily industrialized and concentrated

Question 6

What is the beef supply chain?

Answer 6

cow-calf operations to stocker/backgrounding to feeder with some output of cow-calf operations staying as replacement herd

Question 7

What are public issues with beef industry?

Answer 7

antibiotics and hormone use
animal welfare
food safety
change in product due to change in dietary intake of animal
concentration of processors

Question 8

What are the industry trends with dairy production?

Answer 8

distinct regional differences in development
movement to the arid west and south
significant government involvement in markets
NE grows most of its own non-grain feed
decreasing number of cows in NE, but greatly expanded output per cow

Question 9

What are the regional differences in dairy production?

Answer 9

average herd size and # of farms with more than 1000 cows increases as you go west
everywhere has a similar productivity per animal

Question 10

What are the common metrics for dairy?

Answer 10

milk per lactation per cow
milk per full-time worker
cost of production per cwt milk

Question 11

How does size impact profitability in dairy?

Answer 11

value of product drops a bit with larger size farm
operating cost drop drastically with larger size
total costs drop as size increases
net returns are negative until herd size reaches 500+

Question 12

What is the New England Dairy Compact?

Answer 12

producers were paid more to account for not breaking even

Question 13

What are public issues with dairy?

Answer 13

environmental concerns - N, P, emissions
hormone use - BST (not as big a deal anymore)
loss of local processing
loss of ag infrastructure if dairy goes away

Question 14

What are the challenges of organic dairy?

Answer 14

can't use antibiotics, even to treat a sick animal
no hormones
100% organic feed (not enough)
outside access when possible (365)
pasture requirement
no milk replacer

Question 15

What are trends in pork and poultry industries?

Answer 15

vertical integration
contracted production
consolidation
product uniformity and branding
concentrated geographically

Question 16

Where is most pork production concentrated?

Answer 16

North Carolina, Iowa, Southern Minnesota

Question 17

Where is most poultry production concentrated?

Answer 17

Southeast, Delaware, Maryland, Arkansas

Question 18

What is the farrowing to weaning stage for swine?

Answer 18

provides pigs to industry

Question 19

How is swine finishing done?

Answer 19

all indoors

concrete slated floors to drain manure

Question 20

What is contracted production?

Answer 20

animal owned by corporation
barn owned by farmer
farmer assumes risk

Question 21

What are public issues with swine and poultry production?

Answer 21

animal welfare - crowding, drug input
transgenic production
environmental contamination - manure lagoons, nutrient concentration

Question 22

What is the types of operations for the swine industry?

Answer 22

farrow to finish operations - birth to slaughter
feeder pig producer - birth to 10-60 pounds
feeder pig finisher - grow to slaughter weight

Question 23

What is the historical place of livestock in agriculture?

Answer 23

animal domestication happened with crop domestication

usually have happened together

Question 24

What is an economic view of livestock?

Answer 24

inputs and outputs

Question 25

What is an ecological view of livestock?

Answer 25

interrelated flows (often cyclical)
energy flows, nutrient cycling, carrying capacity

Question 26

What are economic roles of livestock?

Answer 26

farm power, transport, fiber, waste recycling, land management

Question 27

What are ecological roles of livestock?

Answer 27

diversifying farm system, increased system productivity, cycle nutrients, maintain grass ecosystems

Question 28

What are the types of poultry farms in the system?

Answer 28

multiplier farm - produces chicks, doesn’t breed
broiler farm - raise to meat
breeder farm - produce eggs (broken into elite, great-grandparent and grandparent farms)

Question 29

What is a breeding stock?

Answer 29

support animals
livestock classes have different lengths of breeding cycle, reproduction rate, and number of offspring that go to market or breeding stock

Question 30

How is productive output over the lifecycle measured?

Answer 30

kg per breeding female per cycle

Question 31

Why are feed needs important?

Answer 31

they are a huge fraction of the operating (66%) and total cost (50%)
needed to calculate ecological or environmental impacts

Question 32

What are feed needs a function of?

Answer 32

basal metabolism, growth rate, activity, gestation, lactation, exposure

Question 33

What basis can feed conversion ratios be calculated?

Answer 33

farm weight - amount of feed/head
energy content
protein content

Question 34

What are the 6 major feeds in a ration composition?

Answer 34

corn grain, soybean meal, corn silage, alfalfa silage, grass hay, grazed forage

Question 35

How can land requirements of livestock products be measured?

Answer 35

per unit energy

per unit protein

Question 36

Which livestock class has the highest total land requirements?

Answer 36

beef by far, but much of that is perennial grass hay and grassed forages

Question 37

Why is it important to consider grazing land separate from cultivated land?

Answer 37

ecosystem benefits
often unsuitable for cropping
its a seasonal resource
has multiple competing uses
productivity varies widely
hard to estimate yields
dwarfs cropland in acres

Question 38

What are other important considerations of livestock systems?

Answer 38

biodiversity
GHG emissions
nutrient flows
water