Factors Affecting Thoroughbred Online Auction Prices in Non/Post-Racing Careers.

Racehorse welfare is a prominent, public issue which affects nearly every aspect of the racing industry. Thoroughbred care after race career completion has garnered increasing attention from the equine industry, general public, and animal welfare groups alike. As the average racehorse's career lasts just 4.5 years, owner demand for thoroughbreds is essential for post-race careers and acceptable welfare standards. This study utilized data from and hedonic pricing models to analyze buyer demand for thoroughbreds sold in online auctions held from 2012 to 2020. The results indicate buyer preferences for age (p < 0.01), sex (p < 0.05), and organization registration (p < 0.05), with bid price premiums for age and registration status (USEF, USEA, USHJA, etc.) and price discounts for mares compared to geldings and horses listed for non-competition careers (trail, p < 0.01). The results of this study confirm and quantify the value potential buyers place on thoroughbreds offered for sale in sport disciplines. The findings may help non-profit organizations charged with rehoming off the track thoroughbreds and reduce the number of unwanted thoroughbreds by illustrating the desired traits and skills within the equine market, thus improving welfare optics overall.

Financial strain of COVID-19 and its impact on willingness-to-pay for equine care.

The novel COVID-19 virus caused a global pandemic disrupting lives, industries, and economies. The result was an impact on prices due to challenges with production and supply chain distribution. This study investigates the financial strain COVID-19 had on equine owners and leasers, what the market for equine care would bear if costs for care increased, and what factors contribute to their willingness to pay (WTP) for increasing cost of equine care. An online survey was distributed for 4 weeks to adult U.S. residents. Respondents reported their involvement in the equine industry, financial response to COVID-19, and responses to a double-bound dichotomous choice question on their WTP for care given a randomized increase (1%-20%) in their current cost (n = 506). Data were analyzed using interval regression models where a = 0.05 (Stata15). Respondents were separated into three groups: owner keeping their horse at their residence, owner boarding their equids, and leaser. Boarders reported mean monthly payments of 23.33 ± 90.37 USD (n = 15) for free board, 236.47 ± 151.92 USD, (n = 75) for partial board, and 514.75 ± 291.71 USD (n = 181) for full board. Results show all owners, leaser, and boarders have different WTP values which range from 18.5% to 26.2% increase in current care costs which extends beyond the presented range due to many respondents responding "yes" to both WTP questions (71% of owners, 6% of boarders, 65% of leasers). Equine owners, with on farm equids from the southern US were WTP 11% less than from other regions (P = 0.015). The current boarding fees from owners that board their equids lowered their WTP by 0.01% (P = 0.029) for each additional dollar paid, whereas current care costs were not a significant factor for other owners (P = 0.370) or leasers (P = 0.395). Those that had a full lease for their equids, housed on farm or at a facility, were WTP 15% higher (P = 0.036) than those that had a partial or no lease. In comparison, boarding status (full, partial, or no boarding) did not significantly (P = 0.51) impact boarder's WTP. Age of respondent and annual household income heterogeneously affected WTP across all groups. These results indicate the market for equine care can bear the increases in cost associated with financial distress related to COVID-19, and may aid equine owners, caregivers, and associated individuals in making informed decisions regarding essential care. Results from this study should be taken in context of the global pandemic and the restrictions in place, or lack thereof, at the time the survey was administered.

COVID-19 had a substantial impact on markets and livelihoods. Jobs were affected and the cost of goods increased as products were in short supply, driving up prices for essential and nonessential equine care for owners, caretakers, and other associated individuals. A survey was used to better understand the financial impacts COVID-19 had on equine owners and leasers to determine what the market for equine care would bear if costs for care were to increase. Data collected through an online survey of U.S. residents involved in the equine industry (n = 762) were statistically analyzed. We found that equine owners and leasers were willing to pay at least 14% more for equine care as a result of the increases in cost associated with financial distress related to COVID-19. This accounts for differences across age, sex, number of horses owned or leased, and equine characteristics. This may indicate budget reallocation to maintain continuous equine care.

Effects of Drought and Media-Reported Violence on Cattle Fever Tick Incursions.

Ectoparasites, such as cattle fever ticks, and the diseases they carry pose a risk to the global cattle population in reduced productivity and in livability. Tick infestations carry significant economic implications through losses in productivity, increased morbidity, and control costs. Cattle fever ticks were eradicated from the United States through concentrated efforts across state and federal agencies. The Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program maintains a permanent quarantine and buffer zone along the Texas-Mexico border to monitor and control reincursions of the tick from Mexico due to movements of wildlife or stray animals. The number of apprehensions of stray livestock and changing infestation rates may be influenced by many factors including increases in violence along the border or environmental effects such as weather pattern changes, river levels, or temperature fluctuations. Using annual records of the number of cattle apprehended and infestation rates, an analysis of the effects of media-reported border violence and environmental conditions can provide a unique understanding of cattle fever tick prevention and the challenges control programs face. Results from this analysis suggest that both media-reported violence and weather changes affect the rate at which infested cattle are apprehended, and these effects differ depending on spatial and temporal factors. With continued land use changes, social unrest in endemic areas, and changing weather patterns, the efforts to control and eradicate cattle fever ticks, both in the United States and globally, is likely to be an ongoing concern.

United States feedlot operator willingness to pay for disposal capacity to address foreign animal disease risk.

Foreign animal diseases can cause severe and lasting economic impacts to producers, directly and indirectly. Understanding producer investment cost structures can provide industry and policy makers better tools to encourage biosecurity adoption. Consistent with the literature, many factors can contribute to an individual operator's decision to invest in biosecurity based on individual characteristics, perception of disease likelihood, or expected losses associated with a disease event. We used a producer survey and a one-and-one-half bound econometric model to estimate feedlot operator willingness to pay to invest in disposal capacity within the next 3 years. Results indicate an average willingness to pay of $14,310 for a one-time investment in on-farm disposal capacity to address carcass movement restrictions during a disease outbreak. We found several factors that contribute to and explain the heterogeneity between feedlots and their adoption decisions. Primarily, size of the feedlot and death loss rate significantly impact adoption, which both potentially speak to the financial liquidity and investment potential of a feedlot enterprise. While there is no failsafe in disease prevention, these results provide a better understanding for how to study and structure policy and cost structures to incentivize adoption of biosecurity.

Replacement Beef Cow Valuation under Data Availability Constraints.

Economists are often tasked with estimating the benefits or costs associated with livestock production losses; however, lack of available data or absence of consistent reporting can reduce the accuracy of these valuations. This work looks at three potential estimation techniques for determining the value for replacement beef cows with varying types of market data to proxy constrained data availability and discusses the potential margin of error for each technique. Oklahoma bred replacement cows are valued using hedonic pricing based on Oklahoma bred cow data-a best case scenario-vector error correction modeling (VECM) based on national cow sales data and cost of production (COP) based on just a representative enterprise budget and very limited sales data. Each method was then used to perform a within-sample forecast of 2016 January to December, and forecasts are compared with the 2016 monthly observed market prices in Oklahoma using the mean absolute percent error (MAPE). Hedonic pricing methods tend to overvalue for within-sample forecasting but performed best, as measured by MAPE for high quality cows. The VECM tended to undervalue cows but performed best for younger animals. COP performed well, compared with the more data intensive methods. Examining each method individually across eight representative replacement beef female types, the VECM forecast resulted in a MAPE under 10% for 33% of forecasted months, followed by hedonic pricing at 24% of the forecasted months and COP at 14% of the forecasted months for average quality beef females. For high quality females, the hedonic pricing method worked best producing a MAPE under 10% in 36% of the forecasted months followed by the COP method at 21% of months and the VECM at 14% of the forecasted months. These results suggested that livestock valuation method selection was not one-size-fits-all and may need to vary based not only on the data available but also on the characteristics (e.g., quality or age) of the livestock being valued.