@conference {41552,
	title = {The cost of alleviating the pain caused by the castration of beef calves},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {65},
	year = {2005},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {123-126},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Christchurch},
	abstract = {  The pain caused by husbandry procedures such as dehorning or castration is of concern to those with an interest  in animal welfare. In the future farmers will be encouraged and perhaps obliged to provide analgesia for animals  subjected to these procedures. In New Zealand in the last decade veterinarians have developed a service for disbudding  dairy calves using the sedative xylazine and local anaesthesia and this has become popular with some dairy farmers.  This paper reports a financial analysis of the impact to the individual farmer and nationally of using different forms of  analgesia when castrating calves. Four scenarios and their costs were analysed: (1) the status quo ($0.28/calf); (2) the  use of local anaesthesia with increased labour costs ($1.56/calf); (3) the use of local anaesthesia plus systemic analgesia  with increased labour costs ($5.45/calf); and (4) the employment of a veterinarian to do the castration ($9.39/calf).  National costs ranged from $160,000 to $5,368,700 ($10 to $351 per farm) for the four scenarios. The proposed  scenarios were more expensive than the status quo but were still small relative to average total farm costs, i.e. $170,974  on New Zealand sheep and beef farms in 2001-02. These figures do not include any allowance for the cost of the  inconvenience of having to organise husbandry activities around veterinary visits. Farmers may resist the imposition any  of these 3 scenarios. In future the use of analgesics may become standard farm practice.   

},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Stafford KJ and Mellor DJ and Dooley AE and Smeaton D and McDermott A}
}
@conference {41829,
	title = {Identifying opportunities to add value to the New Zealand beef industry : a modelling approach},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {65},
	year = {2005},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {252-255},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Christchurch},
	abstract = {A model of the New Zealand beef value chain, from conception to export, was constructed. The model is parameterised at the national level so that issues and opportunities within the beef industry can be examined at a high level by researchers and industry participants. Working with numerous key informants from throughout the beef industry, the researchers developed a conceptual model of the beef value chain and then constructed the model in a spreadsheet. The model is capable of modelling changes in farm practice, market situations and the industry structure. This model and a range of scenarios have been demonstrated to a range of beef industry participants facilitating considerable debate. To illustrate the power and value of the model in evaluating change and facilitating debate within the beef sector, three scenarios are presented and compared with the status quo.
KEYWORDS: value chain; scenario evaluation; beef; model. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {McDermott A and Dooley AE and Smeaton DC}
}
@conference {41422,
	title = {Modelling optimum switch date from twice- to once-daily milking in dairy herds},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {63},
	year = {2003},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {133-137},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Queenstown},
	abstract = {The production of a dairy herd was simulated at two different stocking rates (3.4 cows/ha and 4.0 cows/ha) and two seasonal conditions (an average and a dry Waikato summer). Cows were milked twice-daily (TDM) for varying periods, before being switched to once-daily milking (ODM) for the remainder of the lactation. Switching from TDM to ODM during the milking season reduced the total production of the herd. With 3.4 cows/ha in an average summer, at a break-even value of labour of $100 /milking ($200 /milking) the optimum switch-over date was January 13 (October 21); a dry season brought forward this date by approximately two weeks. Increasing payout increased the break-even value of labour at a given switch-over date. Under a commonly used farmer industry guideline, break-even labour values under average (dry) conditions were $53.47 /milking ($61.47) for 3.4 cows/ha and $36.07 /milking ($33.98) at 4.0 cows/ha. A stocking rate of 4.0 cows/ha switching to ODM after peak production had a lower cash surplus than a 3.4 cows/ha stocking rate with TDM due to additional ($30,000) feed costs with the higher stocking rate. These results suggest a formal approach could be used to complement industry guidelines in deciding when to switch from TDM to ODM. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Westbrooke VCF and Dooley AE and Vetharaniam I}
}
@conference {41207,
	title = {The future for small dairy farms: Constraints, plans and priorities},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {60},
	year = {2000},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {241-246},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Hamilton},
	abstract = {Small dairy farms (<60 ha and/or <180 cows) represent about one third of New Zealand{\textquoteright}s dairy herds. Declining real returns for milksolids (MS) and inflation are continuing to squeeze their profitability to the extent that, without change, many are likely to exit the industry in the next decade. A mail survey of 1389 farmers was conducted to quantify their plans for the future, the constraints they faced in improving farm income and ways the dairy industry could assist them. A response rate of 41\% was achieved. The majority of respondents were over 45 years (74.4\%) with the average age being 51 years. Most (85\%) were happy with their farm location, but 48\% said they were dissatisfied with their farm size. However, few would sell to buy a bigger farm elsewhere (17.8\%) or to invest in non-farming activities (24.1\%) Only 24\% expected their children to continue dairying on the home farm. Few believed their own ability, others{\textquoteright} opinions or suitable learning opportunities were limiting their ability to improve farm income. Most believed expenses could be reduced very little (mean = 3.6\%). However, MS production could be increased compared to current levels to a greater extent (mean = 15.8\%, range 0 to 248\%). Factors restricting the improvement of farm income were: the economic and political environment (s=2) (s=median score, where 1=strongly agree and 5=strongly disagree), unfavourable actions of the dairy industry (2), lack of capital (3) and environmental limitations (3). Plans for 2009 included: retired from farming (s=3), (where 1=very unlikely and 5= very likely), on the same farm but no longer dairying (3), no or minor change (2) and have a bigger dairy farm (2). Farmers{\textquoteright} priorities for using a 10\% higher cash surplus were: debt repayment (s=4; as for previous scale), farm development (4), off-farm investment (3) and improvements to the family home (3). While potential exists to increase production on dairy farms with small herds, the survey indicates a considerable reduction in the number of these will occur over the next decade. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Parker WJ and Rauniyar GP and Dooley AE}
}
@conference {41018,
	title = {Sheep breeding: an enterprise budgeting decision support model for on-farm planning.},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {58},
	year = {1998},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {165-169},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {In selecting a sheep breeding strategy farmers need to evaluate the likely physical and financial outcomes relative to continuing the existing policy. The strategy should be assessed in terms of the new status quo production levels and costs and prices at this time, and the possible associated effect of changes in product attributes relative to market requirements. To assist farmers evaluate alternative breeding scenarios a spreadsheet-based enterprise budgeting model was developed. The input data and output are summarised to a one-page template to allow the user to assess the sensitivity of returns to different market and production scenarios for a particular farm situation. A flock at current performance levels and those in 5 years, following genetic and management improvement, is compared to a crossbreeding strategy to illustrate the model{\textquoteright}s application. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Parker WJ and Dooley AE and Garrick DJ}
}
