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Profit, Meat Production or Efficient Use of Energy in Ranching^{1 ,4,}

Abstract

Recently there has been renewed interest to increase red meat production and energy conservation. Ranchers, however, must still earn a livelihood from the range resource, and consequently tend to maximize profit. The relationship between these goals and net profit was examined by varying the importance of these three objectives. When profit maximization was the highest priority, net profit was over five times larger than net profit when other goals were highest. Forage production and fossil fuel use were highest when meat production was maximized; in addition, profit was lowest. Minimizing fossil fuel use resulted in no range improvement, no crop production, and the lowest meat production, but resulted in an intermediate net profit. The results highlight that popular issues such as red meat production often conflict with maximizing profits.

¹ This research is supported by NSF Grant No. ESR72-03396-A02, Regional Analysis and Management of Environmental Systems, Colorado State University, and the Colorado State University Experiment Station (Scientific Series No. 2116).

⁴ Presented in a Symposium on Systems Analysis and Red Meat Production, Great Pains Agricultural Council and American Society of Animal Science, Auust 18, 1976, Texas A&M University, College Station.

² Assistant Professor, Department of Range Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.

³ Extension Range Specialist, Agricultural Extension Service, University of California, Davis.