Economics Grazing Animals Flashcards
What is an extensive livestock system?
Low level of inputs, limited labour, produce msall amounts of product/unity land/animal
- found in areas with limited potential for alternative land use
What competition for resources are asscoated with extensive farming?
Other agricultural activities and off farm activities
Give examples of extensive farming systems making use of underutilised resources
- Sheep in wheat systems in Australia
- Fattenring sheep on turnip tops in UK
Which type of system (extensive v intensive) has highest veterinary costs? Which spends the highest proportion of costs on veterinary work?
- Highest ££ comes from intensive production
- Highest proportion of costings is in grazing livestock
What % cost is usually spent on animal health?
5-10%
What can vet advice have an impact on?
- efficiency of food and forage
- overall productivity
- equipment
- labour and ksills needed
What is the gross margin?
Output-Variable costs
> does not take into account fixed costs
What types of losses may be incurred by the farmer?
- Visable losses (eg. deaths, v productivity)
- Invisible losses (eg. fertility problems, change in herd structure, public health risks)
Give examples of additional costs
Medicines, time needed to treat
Give examples of lost revenue
Access to better markets denied, suboptimal use of technology
When can an investment be said to be worthwhile?
When the AVOIDABLE LOSSES are greater than the COSTS OF CHANGE in disease status
What is partial budgeting?
additional costs and additional benefits - limited time frame, one production cycle/year
> sum of all variable cots vs. sum of all variable outputs
> (new costs + revenue foregone) - (costs saved + new revenue)
What is revenue foregone?
- income that would have been taken from those animals if treatment plan was not implemented (eg. milk produced from mastitis cows still fed to calves)
What are new costs?
Any cost associated with implementing the new treatement eg. vax, medicines, time needed to treat
- ^ food, bedding and husbandry due to less deaths if treatement successful
What are costs saved?
- treatemnts of sick animals, time needed to care for sick animals, cost of vax or current treatment regime
