Minimum Cost Beef Backgrounding Ration Utilizing Alternative Feedstuffs and Stochastic Prices
Abstract
Cattle producers on the Northern Great Plains have many feedstuffs available. Feedstuffs comprise a large portion of direct costs producers face, and to be profit maximizing producers they look to minimize this cost. This is often done through linear programming utilizing average prices. However, price data for alternative feedstuffs can be scarce, and both conventional and alternative feedstuff prices can be volatile. This thesis seeks to identify a least cost ration that captures the volatility of feedstuff prices.