Optimal decisions in organic beef production from steers — Effects of criterion of optimality and price changes

Organic beef production from steers demands several decisions concerning grazing strategy, feeding level in the winter and aspects as slaughter weight and length of the finishing period. A model has been developed to optimise these strategies. The objective of this study was (1) to find optimal strategies for organic beef production from steers regarding grazing strategy, feeding level in winter, finishing and slaughter in organic beef production from steer concerning economic output per time unit using a multi-level hierarchic Markov process and (2) to analyse the stability of these results by sensitivity analysis. The results showed that in general the optimal strategy only changes slightly depending on the criterion (net returns per steer versus per time unit). An optimization per time unit in some cases favours a more intensive production based on high feeding level in winter and finishing of steers as well as earlier slaughtering compared to an optimization per steer. Finishing of steers seemed not to be an optimal strategy from an economic point of view and price changes in feed, beef and premiums did not favour finishing of steers. Beef prices as well as prices for ryegrass/white clover pasture and low feeding level seemed to be the most important factors that influence net return.