Breeding and technological innovations in dairy and beef cattle markets

Funes Leal, Victor

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125498 Copy

Description

Title

Breeding and technological innovations in dairy and beef cattle markets

Author(s)

Funes Leal, Victor

Issue Date

2024-05-20

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Hutchins, Jared P

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Hutchins, Jared P

Committee Member(s)

• Arends Kuenning, Mary P
• Goldsmith, Peter D
• Wheeler, Matthew

Department of Study

Agr & Consumer Economics

Discipline

Agricultural & Applied Econ

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Production Economics
• Genetics
• Technology Adoption

Abstract

Since humans domesticated cattle (Bos Taurus) around 10,000 years ago, we have taken advantage of all the byproducts of such animals (beef, milk, cheese, hides, etc.) However, until relatively recently, we did not possess adequate information to analyze decisions such as breeding, crossbreeding, or animal replacement. Until relatively recently, every dairy and beef cattle ranch operated in relative isolation, resorting to diverse methods to improve their gene pull, such as organizing in cooperatives to test the quality of their milk and acquire bulls to impregnate their cows. Starting in the United States during the 1930s, The National Cooperative Dairy Herd Improvement Program started testing bulls for their genetic traits to provide better information to guide dairy farmer’s breeding decisions with the help of breed associations and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These tests called Large Scale Genetic Evaluations (Or simply "evaluations'"), consist of measuring observed quantitative and qualitative traits from cattle to ascertain which portion of the realized (“expressed”) value can be attributable to genetic factors, and particularly, the male line since none of the economic relevant traits of dairy cattle (milk, butterfat, and protein yields) can be directly observed on males. These evaluations are carried out continuously but published three times a year (April, August, and November), and their information is used for marketing dairy bulls. Two of the chapters in this dissertation use Evaluation data from the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB), certified semen services, which have been routinely updated and published online since 2000 and consist of thousands of genetic trait data from every bull market in the United States. At the time of writing this dissertation, very few articles in Applied Economics have used such evaluation data; one notable exception is Whitt et Al. (2019). In this dissertation, I investigate three distinct aspects of the Economics of livestock genetics. In my first chapter, I analyze the consequences of a new technological development, Genomic Testing, and how it boosted the productivity of dairy cows in North America, but also the extent to which it led to negative consequences through increased inbreeding. The second chapter deals with a different topic: the introduction of crossbreeds in Argentina as a form of climate adaptation driven by land use substitution from cattle grazing into soybeans. We show that such a displacement out of temperate areas has fueled a demand for specific traits, particularly more light-colored animals with lower birth weights but increased ability to gain weight. Finally, the third chapter deals with the effects of winning the "Premier Sire'' category in the World Dairy Expo on the price of bull genetics as a way to incorporate pedigree into a hedonic pricing framework. I show that the effect of winning the World Dairy Expo "trickles down’" into the animal's family, but the sign of the effect is different from the expected since winners are already well-known sires.

Graduation Semester

2024-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125498

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Victor Funes Leal

Owning Collections