scholarly journals 76 Cattle Production’s Response to Packing Capacity Disruption

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 41-42
Author(s):  
Ben P Holland ◽  
Kaitlyn R Wesley ◽  
Alyssa B Word ◽  
Casey Maxwell

Abstract In August 2019, a fire at Tyson’s Finney County, Kansas, beef plant removed approximately 5% of U.S. beef packing capacity for 3 months. Subsequent COVID-19 pandemic-related precautions and workforce illness caused multiple packing plants across the country to decrease or stop production in the spring of 2020. Both events resulted in feedlots being unable to ship cattle at optimal finish points or according to projection. Estimates of the number of cattle backlogged during 2020 approach 1 million. Producers were faced with decisions on how to manage finished animals that could not be shipped while considering economic, animal welfare, and animal health outcomes. Many factors further complicated the situation including highly volatile markets, the possibility employee quarantine due to personal or family illness would cause operations to be under-staffed, and shortage of available pens for new cattle. Feeders had the option to slow the rate of growth of finished cattle due to the ability of ruminant animals to utilize low-energy feedstuffs or by calculating programmed rates of gain using the net energy system. Instead, many producers chose to attempt maximal rates of gain hoping persistent growth and feeding margins would offset discounts due to heavy carcass weights and excess fatness when the supply chain began moving again. Regarding new placements, the structure of the beef industry is uniquely developed to absorb cattle in stocker and backgrounding operations. This presentation will review the factors impacting cattle production and provide case-studies related to feeding at maintenance and growth rates, efficiencies, and carcass outcomes of held cattle from an operation and industry level.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2045
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo Garavaso ◽  
Fabio Bignucolo ◽  
Jacopo Vivian ◽  
Giulia Alessio ◽  
Michele De Carli

Energy communities (ECs) are becoming increasingly common entities in power distribution networks. To promote local consumption of renewable energy sources, governments are supporting members of ECs with strong incentives on shared electricity. This policy encourages investments in the residential sector for building retrofit interventions and technical equipment renovations. In this paper, a general EC is modeled as an energy hub, which is deemed as a multi-energy system where different energy carriers are converted or stored to meet the building energy needs. Following the standardized matrix modeling approach, this paper introduces a novel methodology that aims at jointly identifying both optimal investments (planning) and optimal management strategies (operation) to supply the EC’s energy demand in the most convenient way under the current economic framework and policies. Optimal planning and operating results of five refurbishment cases for a real multi-family building are found and discussed, both in terms of overall cost and environmental impact. Simulation results verify that investing in building thermal efficiency leads to progressive electrification of end uses. It is demonstrated that the combination of improvements on building envelope thermal performances, photovoltaic (PV) generation, and heat pump results to be the most convenient refurbishment investment, allowing a 28% overall cost reduction compared to the benchmark scenario. Furthermore, incentives on shared electricity prove to stimulate higher renewable energy source (RES) penetration, reaching a significant reduction of emissions due to decreased net energy import.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahryar Habibi

Purpose The purpose of this study is to design a zero-energy home, which is known to be capable of balancing its own energy production and consumption close to zero. Development of low-energy homes and zero-net energy houses (ZEHs) is vital to move toward energy efficiency and sustainability in the built environment. To achieve zero or low energy targets in homes, it is essential to use the design process that minimizes the need for active mechanical systems. Design/methodology/approach The methodology discussed in this paper consists of an interfacing building information modeling (BIM) tool and a simulation software to determine the potential influence of phase change materials on designing zero-net energy homes. Findings BIM plays a key role in advancing methods for architects and designers to communicate through a common software platform, analyze energy performance through all stages of the design and construction process and make decisions for improving energy efficiency in the built environment. Originality/value This paper reviews the literature relevant to the role of BIM in helping energy simulation for the performance of residential homes to more advanced levels and in modeling the integrated design process of ZEHs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 1029-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis O Tedeschi

Abstract Interrelationships between retained energy (RE) and retained protein (RP) that are essential in determining the efficiency of use of feeds and the assessment of energy and protein requirements of growing cattle were analyzed. Two concerns were identified. The first concern was the conundrum of a satisfactory correlation between observed and predicted RE (r = 0.93) or between observed and predicted RP when using predicted RE to estimate RP (r = 0.939), but a much lower correlation between observed and predicted RP when using observed RE to estimate RP (r = 0.679). The higher correlation when using predicted vs. observed RE is a concern because it indicates an interdependency between predicted RP and predicted RE that is needed to predict RP with a higher precision. These internal offsetting errors create an apparent overall adequacy of nutrition modeling that is elusive, thus potentially destabilizing the predictability of nutrition models when submodels are changed independently. In part, the unsatisfactory prediction of RP from observed RE might be related to the fact that body fat has a caloric value that is 1.65 times greater than body protein and the body deposition of fat increases exponentially as an animal matures, whereas body deposition of protein tends to plateau. Thus, body fat is more influential than body protein in determining RE, and inaccuracies in measuring body protein will be reflected in the RP comparison but suppressed in the RE calculation. The second concern is related to the disconnection when predicting partial efficiency of use of metabolizable energy for growth (kG) using the proportion of RE deposited as protein—carcass approach—vs. using the concentration of metabolizable energy of the diet—diet approach. The culprit of this disconnection might be related to how energy losses that are associated with supporting energy-expending processes (HiEv) are allocated between these approaches. When computing kG, the diet approach likely assigns the HiEv to the RE pool, whereas the carcass approach ignores the HiEV, assigning it to the overall heat production that is used to support the tissue metabolism. Opportunities exist for improving the California Net Energy System regarding the relationships of RE and RP in computing the requirements for energy and protein by growing cattle, but procedural changes might be needed such as increased accuracy in the determination of body composition and better partitioning of energy.


2001 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Schwager-Suter ◽  
C. Stricker ◽  
D. Erdin ◽  
N. Künzi

Abstract Net energy efficiencies were calculated from data of an experimental herd with respect to type of cow, lactation number, stage of lactation and diet. The trial consisted of 71 Holstein-Friesians, 71 Jerseys and 71 Holstein-Jersey F1-crosses in 1st, 2nd and > 2nd lactation. Data were collected during 210 days of lactation, from calving to week 30 and included total dry matter intake, energy content of foods, milk yield, milk solids, body weight, body condition scores and several body measurements. The cows were divided into four feeding groups : high and low energy content of roughage as well as high and low proportion of concentrates. Net energy efficiency was calculated as the ratio of milk energy to total net energy intake after subtracting energy utilized for maintenance and body tissue change. Body tissue change was calculated either via body-weight changes or body condition-score changes. Due to the distribution of the efficiencies being skewed, efficiencies were transformed applying a Box-Cox transformation. Transformed net energy efficiencies were analysed using a repeated measurements design considering the sequential nature of the observations. Mixed models with a compound symmetry structure for the variance components were applied. Final models contained the fixed effects of type, lactation number, feeding group and the covariates week of lactation and its square. Holstein-Jersey crosses were more efficient than purebreds, second lactation cows were least efficient, cows given low energy roughage and a lower proportion of concentrates were more efficient than cows on the other diets. Least efficient were the cows belonging to the high energy roughage and higher proportion of concentrates group. The coefficients of determination of the final models were between 0·357 and 0·492.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barny Evans ◽  
Sabbir Sidat

This paper is an investigation into the issues around how we calculate CO2 emissions in the built environment. At present, in Building Regulations and GHG Protocol calculations used for buildings and corporate CO2 emissions calculations, it is standard to use a single number for the CO2 emission factor of each source. This paper considers how energy demand, particularly electricity at different times of the day, season and even year can differ in terms of its CO2 emissions. This paper models three different building types (retail, office and home) using standard software to estimate a profile of energy demand. It then considers how CO2 emissions calculations differ between using the single standard emissions factor and using an hourly emissions factor based on real electrical grid generation over a year. The paper also examines the impact of considering lifetime emissions factors rather than one-year factors using UK government projections. The results show that there is a significant difference to the analysis of benefit in terms of CO2 emissions from different measures – both intra- and inter-year – due to the varying CO2 emissions intensity, even when they deliver the same amount of net energy saving. Other factors not considered in this paper, such as impact on peak generation and air quality, are likely to be important when considering whole-system impacts. In line with this, it is recommended that moves are made to incorporate intra- and inter-year emissions factor changes in methodologies for calculating CO2 emissions. (This is particularly important as demand side response and energy storage, although generally accepted as important in the decarbonisation of the energy system at present will show as an increase in CO2 emissions when using a single number.) Further work quantifying the impact on air quality and peak generation capacity should also be considered. Practical application: This paper aims to help practitioners to understand the performance gap between how systems need to be designed in order to meet regulations compared to how buildings perform in reality – both today and in the future. In particular, it considers the use of ‘real-time’ carbon factors in order to attain long-term CO2 reductions. This methodology enables decision makers to understand the impacts of different energy reduction technologies, considering each of their unique characteristics and usage profiles. If implemented, the result is a simple-to-use dataset which can be embedded into the software packages already available onto the market which mirrors the complexity of the electricity grid that is under-represented through the use of a static carbon figure.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kezia R. Manlove ◽  
Laura M. Sampson ◽  
Benny Borremans ◽  
E. Frances Cassirer ◽  
Ryan S. Miller ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTManaging pathogen spillover at the wildlife-livestock interface is a key step toward improving global animal health, food security, and wildlife conservation. However, predicting the effectiveness of management actions across host-pathogen systems with different life histories is an on-going challenge since data on intervention effectiveness are expensive to collect and results are system-specific. We developed a simulation model to explore how the efficacies of different management strategies vary according to host movement patterns and epidemic growth rates. The model suggested that fast-growing, fast-moving epidemics like avian influenza were best-managed with actions like biosecurity or containment, which limited and localized overall spillover risk. For fast-growing, slower-moving diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, depopulation or prophylactic vaccination were competitive management options. Many actions performed competitively when epidemics grew slowly and host movements were limited, and how management efficacy related to epidemic growth rate or host movement propensity depended on what objective was used to evaluate management performance. This framework may be a useful step in advancing how we classify and prioritise responses to novel pathogen spillover threats, and evaluate current management actions for pathogens emerging at the wildlife-livestock interface.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Ram Kumar Jha ◽  
Anshul Kumar Jain

Objectives of the study are to examine the trends and percent growth rates for the area, production and productivity of different vegetable crops; ii) to estimate the trend for arrival and market prices of different vegetable crops; iii) to calculate the yearly arrival index for vegetables arrival in selected mandies, and iv) to judge integrated supply chain management of vegetables marketing in selected region. The study has been made on backward division of Uttar Pradesh named Jhansi division. Division comprises three districts: Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun on the basis of secondary and primary information. The secondary information is collected for area, production, productivity, arrival and market prices of tomato, brinjal, potato, onion, okra, bottle gourd, torai and cauliflower in Jhansi, Lalitpur and Jalaun districts of Jhansi division. The primary information has been collected from Lalitpur district. There are six blocks in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh (UP) viz. Bar, Birdha, Jakhoura, Madavra, Mahroni, and Talbehat. Two stage stratified random sampling method has been adopted to collect the information from vegetables growers of three blocks i.e., Mahroni, Birdha and Jakhoura. Total 114 vegetables growers categorized marginal (up to 2.5 acre land), small (> 2.5 acre land to 5 acre land) and Large (> 5 acre land) farmers, 22 middlemen (aadatiya) and 20 retailers have chosen to complete the present study. In the selected study area vegetables growers were not grading their produce. They picked vegetables from field and make bora bandi to carry in mandi. On the other hand the middlemen and retailers were grading the purchased vegetables for earning maximum profit. Preferred transportation modes were tractors, buses and taxies. But for retail selling cycle and haththela were mostly used. Vegetables growers did not store vegetables in home and warehouse. In Lalitpur district tomato production was highest in 2009-10, it was 2821 metric ton (MT). It was due to rise in area. Lalitpur and Jhansi districts have potential to increase the productivity of tomato through better governmental support. Percent Growth Rates (PGR) informed regarding percentage change in present year compare to previous year. The total arrival indicated presence of vegetables in the different vegetable mandies and arrival index presented vegetables consistent presence in the mandies i.e., higher the index higher amount of quantity arrived in the mandies. Under the marketing chain management the channel II was found most favored channel in the study area as maximum (about 90%) quantity of produce was sold through this channel by small and large farmers. Though channel I was mostly liked by marginal farmers. Middlemen purchased vegetables at 6 percent commission on per quintal basis from producers and sold to retailer by charging 3 percent mandishulk on per quintal basis. In Jakhoura block all the selected farm size categories and in Birdha block small and large farm size categories were sold their cent percent vegetables produce to middlemen. Middlemen also provide space to keep their produce and stay at night for farmers in mandi. At some occasions middlemen also provide credits to farmers for fulfilling their agricultural and family daily needs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7568-7579

Exergy analysis of the expansion turbine hybrid cycle of integrated molten carbonate fuel cells is presented in this study. The proposed cycle was used as a sustainable energy curriculum to provide a small hybrid power plant with high energy efficiency. To generate electricity with the system mentioned above, and externally repaired fusion carbon fuel cell was used located at the top of the combined cycle. Moreover, the turbine and steam turbine systems are considered as complementary and bottom layers for co-generation, respectively. The results showed that the proposed system could reach net energy of up to 1125 kilowatts, while the total exergy efficiency (including electricity and heat) for this system is more than 68%. Moreover, the energy supplied and exergy efficiency derived from the proposed cycle are stable versus changes in ambient temperatures. Besides, the effect of increasing the current density on the cell voltage and the total exergy destruction was considered. Also, the new approaches of the exergoeconomics and exergoenvironmental analysis are implemented in this system. The results show that the hybrid system can decrease the exergy destruction costs more than 16%, and the environmental footprint of the system more than 23.4%.


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