One of the objectives of the wolf-livestock interaction study is to quantify the influence of wolf presence on cattle performance and grazing behavior across herds of cattle grazing on rangelands. In order to accomplish this, cattle will be randomly selected from wolf-affected and control herds to be fitted with a GPS collar that will track their movement during the summer (June - October) grazing season. 

Following a century of expatriation, gray wolves (Canis lupus) returned to California in 2011, and populations have rapidly grown. This has created a challenge facing ranchers, policy makers, and conservationists: restoring wolf populations – a Statewide policy – while fairly compensating ranchers for direct (i.e., livestock kills) and indirect (i.e., reduced livestock performance) costs of cohabitating with a regulatorily protected large carnivore.

Predation is a major threat the economic viability of livestock operations. In the case of sheep operations in particular, predation by coyotes (Canis latrans) has long been cited as a primary driver of economic vulnerability and a major cause of producers leaving the business altogether. U.S. Department of Agriculture death loss reports confirm that coyotes are responsible for more than half of predator-related sheep losses and nearly 64% of predator-related lamb losses.   

Producers and policy makers have shared concerns surrounding the competitive landscape of the beef industry in the U.S. for decades. Along with increased ownership concentration, the beef processing industry has also become more vertically integrated and has expanded its use of contracts (also known as alternative marketing agreements). These industry trends make the market for cattle increasingly thinly traded (i.e., few cash transactions). These thin markets are more susceptible to manipulation and easily impacted by market participates (e.g., meat packers).

Much has changed since my last blog (April 7, 2020), which focused on how COVID-19 had impacted cattle producers in California. At that time, widespread processing plant slowdowns and closures hadn't even been conceived and consumer purchasing patterns, driven by shelter-in-place orders, were the primary driver of wholesale and retail price increases for beef.

Highlights

Vaccinations are an extremely important component of any herd health program. The optimal program, including type of vaccines and frequency of administration, will depend on operational-specific factors including cattle genetics, calving season, and location. Marketing cattle using Western Video Market (WVM) Auction allows ranchers the flexibility to list all of the vaccinations given to each lot including type (e.g., 8-way, Bovi-Shield Gold, etc.), brand (e.g., Zoetis, Merck), and frequency and timing (e.g., at branding, 2 weeks prior to shipment, etc.).

Ranchers marketing their cattle through Western Video Market (WVM) are often at the forefront of the industry, enrolling in and differentiating their cattle on sale day with the newest value-added management and marketing programs available. Using data from WVM's 2018 satellite video auctions allows us to estimate the average premium/discount associated with marketing under each of these programs individually. 

The ever-expanding suite of value-added management and marketing programs available to cattle ranchers today creates substantial ranch-level complexity. Cattlemen are faced with the challenge of determining which programs will differentiate their cattle on sale day while maximizing the profitability of their operations. Although all of these programs are likely to add costs, the additional income generated from each of these programs is uncertain.

Ranchers marketing their cattle through Western Video Market (WVM) are often at the forefront of the industry, enrolling in and differentiating their cattle on sale day with the newest value-added management and marketing programs available. Using data from WVM's 2017 satellite video auctions allows us to estimate the average premium/discount associated with marketing under each of these programs individually. 

The ever-expanding suite of value-added management and marketing programs available to cattle ranchers today creates substantial ranch-level complexity. Cattlemen are faced with the challenge of determining which programs will differentiate their cattle on sale day while maximizing the profitability of their operations. Although all of these programs are likely to add costs, the additional income generated from each of these programs is uncertain.