A typological characterization of Canadian beef cattle farms based on a producer survey

Abstract

The diverse nature of beef production was captured by establishing a farm typology based on an extensive survey of 1005 Canadian farms in 2011. The survey provided information on the type of operation, cattle numbers, feed storage and management, manure management, land use, producer demographics and attitudes to risk, and technology adoption. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to understand the relationships among variables and to statistically identify farm types. A total of 41 diagnostic variables from 133 survey questions were used to define 16 principal components explaining 68% of the variation. Cluster analysis yielded eight major clusters as distinct farm types. The largest number of farms (37%) was grouped as small-scale, part-time cow-calf operations. Mixed operations (crop-beef) were next most frequent (22%), followed by large cow-calf backgrounding (18%) and diversified cow-calf operations that included crop-beef mixed operations as well as off-farm activities (11%). Cow-calf operations that finished calves comprised 8% of the total farms surveyed. Extensive cowcalf backgrounding operations, large backgrounding/finishing operations, and large finishing operations represented the remaining 3% of the farms. The typology not only provides a strategy by which the Canadian beef cattle industry can be characterized, but also improves understanding of the diversity of farm management practices to help develop policies and beneficial management practices.Key words: backgrounding, cattle (beef), cluster analysis, cow-calf, typology, feedlot.Résumé : La nature variée de la production de boeuf a été captée en établissant une typologie de ferme basée sur un sondage à grande échelle de 1005 fermes canadiennes en 2011. Le sondage a fourni les informations sur le type d'opération, le nombre de bovins, l'entreposage et la gestion des aliments, la gestion du fumier, l'utilisation des terres, les données démographiques des producteurs ainsi que leurs attitudes envers le risque et l'adoption des technologies. L'analyse des composantes principales et l'analyse typologique ont été utilisées pour comprendre les relations entre les variables et pour identifier statistiquement les types de fermes. Quarante et une variables de diagnostic provenant de 133 questions de sondage ont été utilisées pour définir 16 composantes principales qui expliquent 68 % de la variation. L'analyse typologique donne huit groupements majeurs comme types distincts de fermes. Le plus grand nombre de fermes (37 %) sont groupés comme des opérations vache-veau à petite échelle, à temps partiel. Les opérations mixtes (récoltes-boeuf) étaient les deuxièmes plus fréquents (22 %), suivis des grandes opérations de semi-finition vache-veau (18 %) et des opérations diversifiées vache-veau qui comprenaient des opérations mixtes récoltes-boeuf ainsi que des activités hors ferme (11 %). Les opérations vache-veau qui finissaient les veaux formaient 8 % des fermes totales sondées. Les opérations à grand étendu de semi-finition v...

Context Specificity and Time Dependency in Classifying Sub-Saharan Africa Dairy Cattle Farmers for Targeted Extension Farm Advice: The Case of Uganda

“…Considering that addressing heterogeneity depends on the nature of variables used to aggregate farms [55] and the process of variable selection [30,48], we adopted a four-step procedure to classify and characterize farms. First, a set of variables were derived from the literature on farm typology, including farm size, number of dairy cows, number of lactating cows, milk yield, labor intensity, stocking rate, amount of concentrates used, feeding/grazing systems used, herd size, farmer's experience, age at first mating, farmers' age, farm facilities and equipment, farm income, household size, hired labor, keeping animal records, milking frequency, farmer education level, use of artificial insemination, lactation period, and calving interval [37,42,49,50,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63].…”

Tipologías Y Caracterización De Sistemas De Cría Bovina De La Pampa Deprimida

“…La variedad y rango de datos, tanto cuantitativos como cualitativos, proporcionados por la diversidad de variables permitieron construir una caracterización de los tipos de establecimientos de la Pampa Deprimida. A nivel internacional se han utilizado diferentes métodos para identificar tipos de sistemas agrícola-ganaderos (Solano et al, 2000;Milán et al, 2011;Alemu et al, 2016). Para la zona de estudio se dispone de caracterizaciones simples (Mosciaro et al, 2011;Némoz et al, 2013) y basadas en métodos multivariados (Costas et al, 2004;Vázquez et al, 2008), pero que incluyen menor número de variables y diferentes propósitos que en este estudio.…”

“…En la caracterización de un "establecimiento ganadero promedio", es importante considerar no sólo las condiciones productivas, sino también las sociales, culturales, económicas y/o ambientales (Solano et al, 2000;Milán et al, 2011). En ese sentido, el análisis tipológico de los productores es una herramienta de simplificación más integral que cuando se establecen sistemas modales basados solamente en análisis económicos (Alemu et al, 2016). Por lo tanto, este trabajo se orienta a clasificar los sistemas de cría de la Pampa Deprimida con base en variables productivas y socio-económicas disponibles y de este modo generar información para facilitar el proceso de transferencia tecnológica en la región.…”

Effect of changes in management practices and animal performance on ammonia emissions from Canadian beef production in 1981 as compared with 2011

“…The beef industry in Canada can be broadly divided into three sectors: cow-calf operations in which cows are bred to produce calves, backgrounding operations in which weaned calves gain weight through pasture or other high-forage diets, and feedlot operations in which cattle are fed grain-based diets prior to slaughter. Across the country, production systems are diverse in terms of the type and number of cattle per operation and feeding and management practices employed (Sheppard et al 2015;Alemu et al 2016). The major cattle categories included in the analysis were cows (lactating and dry), beef calves, replacement heifers (weaning to 1 yr; 1-2 yr), breeding bulls, backgrounding, as well as finishing cattle.…”