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Doctoral thesis2024Open access

How to make money : profitability in pasture and forage based Swedish beef production

Holmström, Kristina

Abstract

Profitability in Swedish beef production is low, predominantly because of its small scale and the Nordic climate. The aim of this thesis was to find ways to improve profitability in Swedish beef production. The first study investigated the profitability of creating large pasture enclosures by including adjacent marginal fields and forest to pastureland. The second study examined, aside from different herd sizes, if either indoor bulls or grazing steers were the most profitable in different parts in Sweden. The third study focused on workload in beef cow operations. The fourth study compared profitability when feeding silage based on two different types of grasses to dairy cows, slaughter beef bulls, and beef cows during three different weather scenarios and in different parts of Sweden.

The results show that there are economies of scale. Larger pasture enclosures decrease costs per animal. Although the restoration of pastures was expensive and timber production was lost, the action in all investigated cases was profitable overall. Depending on geographic area and natural conditions, bull or steer production were the most profitable. A more profitable steer needs larger incomes and/or less costs linked to the grazing period. Larger beef cow herds generally had a lower workload per cow and year, but there was a massive variation within herd size especially in smaller operations. The relative competitiveness of grass changes in response to more extreme weather conditions that are caused by climate change. Therefore it is important to choose the correct grass species. The results show that beef bulls were profitable with different grasses in different weather conditions. Contrary, profitability in dairy production was highest with traditional grasses under almost all studied weather conditions and profitability was highest with beef cows when their feed contained much fibre. Thereby, this thesis shows different ways to improve profitability in beef production.

Keywords

profitability; economies of scale; herd size; pasture enclosure; bull, steer; beef cow; labour demand; grass; climate change

Published in

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae
2024, number: 2024:93ISBN: 978-91-8046-420-8, eISBN: 978-91-8046-428-4Publisher: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences