The economic feasibility of on-farm storage for Arizona poultry ranches

Published in 1979

Arizona poultry ranchers are at a comparitive disadvantage in the local egg market because California egg producers have lower feed costs. On-farm storage was explored as an economically feasible method of reducing high feed costs in Arizona. Storage systems were designed and budgeted for three representative flock sizes. Optimal acquisition strategies were calculated for corn, grain sorghum and soybean meal using historical price data. Risk and uncertainty factors associated with these optimal acquisition strategies were provided for the analysis. The objective of this study was to determine the least cost alternative between on-farm processed feed and commercial laying feed.

On-farm storage in conjunction with on-farm milling was feasible for all model flocks since costs for on-farm processed feed was less than the cost of commercial feed. Economies of size existed in on-farm storage systems and cost-savings were greatest for larger volume egg producers requiring greater feed tonnages. Permanent storage systems proved more profitable than the temporary storage systems, which required extensively more grain-handling equipment. On farm storage systems for the three model flocks eliminated the competitive disadvantage of Arizona egg producers by reducing feed costs sufficiently to compete with eggs produced in California

AZU_TD_BOX291_E9791_1979_192.pdf (2.45 MB)

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