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Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Subject "agribusiness management"

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    Exploring heterogeneous motives behind animal welfare management: a focus on fed cattle
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Ayoub, Samantha Elizabeth, author; Mooney, Daniel, advisor; Koontz, Stephen, committee member; Ritten, John, committee member; Edwards-Callaway, Lily, committee member
    This thesis evaluates animal welfare management for fed cattle in two parts. The final marketing stage of the cattle supply chain, which includes transportation from the feedlot, unloading, lairage, and stunning, can subject cattle to significant stress. Yet, previous research has primarily concentrated on animal welfare in upstream segments of the supply chain, such as at ranches and in feedlots. As consumer awareness increases and demand for improved animal welfare rises, it is crucial to evaluate the impacts of animal welfare outcomes on fed cattle production across the supply chain. First, a lot-level empirical analysis evaluates how animal welfare outcomes in the final marketing stage affect the final grid value of fed cattle carcasses. We hypothesize that poor animal welfare outcomes will be negatively correlated with processed carcass value due to reduced mobility, higher bruising trim, and meat quality defects (e.g., dark cutting). We use data collected from five federally inspected processing plants during 2021-2022 that include lot characteristics, animal welfare outcomes, and exogenous factors. Historical monthly price spreads from the Economic Research Service (ERS) and national weekly slaughter cattle premiums and discounts from the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) are used for market and pricing information. We construct grid carcass values for over 600 lots of fed cattle, representing over 87,000 fed cattle. Regression is used to analyze whether and how much mobility, bruising, and quality defects affect grid values conditional on lot characteristics and other exogenous factors. We find that the value after processing varies by the study factors, including animal welfare outcomes, although some negative welfare outcomes are relatively rare in the data. Assuming processors behave as profit maximizers, decreased returns due to poor animal welfare outcomes could incentivize improved animal welfare management in fed cattle production systems. Second, animal welfare management has broader implications for changing regulatory, market, and private industry requirements for producing animal products. Therefore, the second essay of this thesis broadens into a discussion of the heterogeneous motives behind animal welfare management at the pre-slaughter marketing stage. Animal welfare improvements are a conscious management decision impacting the various strategic goals of business. Beyond profit motives, we explore societal and consumer expectations, corporate responsibility, and market access options that are highlighted by increased investment in animal welfare management. We combine previous literature on these aspects into an over-arching discussion of the opportunities and challenges that producers may face when deciding how to manage animal welfare outcomes. To organize the discussion, we adopt a conceptual framework that incorporates dynamic firm behavior, such as access to differentiated markets and corporate social responsibility, in addition to simple profit maximization. The two essays combine to explore the trade-off of animal welfare management costs and benefits for producers in the final marketing stage of fed cattle and have the potential to generate future discussion on the feasibility and progress of ever-growing animal welfare requirements for farm animal production.