Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Coatney, Kalyn T.

Committee Member

Parish, Jane A.

Committee Member

Maples, Joshua G.

Committee Member

Williams, Brian

Committee Member

Little, Randall D.

Other Advisors or Committee Members

Harri, Ardian

Date of Degree

8-9-2019

Original embargo terms

Worldwide

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agricultural Economics

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Agricultural Economics

Abstract

A replacement female's value is primarily determined by her reproductive potential and the expected value of calves produced. To improve sales revenues, sellers benefit from understanding the buyers' valuation of physical characteristics related to reproductive potential and calf values. The goal of this research is to identify the impact of physical characteristics on the valuation of individual replacement females through a hedonic pricing model. Results suggest all facets of pregnancy (i.e. pregnancy status, months pregnant, expected due-date, and cow-calf pairs) are crucial to the valuation. Particularly, pregnant replacement females are discounted relative to non-pregnant, ascending in value as months pregnant increases and reaching a premium over non-pregnant status at approximately five months. It is suspected that newly pregnant replacements are discounted due to higher abortion risks. Finally, the largest premiums were observed for cow-calf pairs, where risk of abortion is zero and the replacement female has proven her reproductive potential.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/14485

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