An economic analysis of the production and utilization of high -oil corn on mixed crop and beef cattle farms in north central Missouri

High-Oil Corn (HOC) is a value-enhanced crop has been entering the marketplace in recent years. The increased production and utilization of specialty crops is a trend in agriculture that will likely continue. It brings with it the need for farmers to assess the economics of changing their operations to include these new crops. Despite the proliferation of data available from seed companies, there is relatively little mention of how yields and price premiums will affect the farmer's bottom line. This inquiry seeks to determine the farmer's profitability of integrating the production and the utilization of HOC as a replacement for commodity corn in feed rations for finishing beef cattle.;This study concentrates on the criterion of optimization at two levels. The first stage uses BALANCER software to formulate least-cost feed rations for finishing beef cattle. The second stage incorporates feed ration requirements in a model of an illustrative mixed crop and beef cattle farm where HOC is grown in rotation with wheat and soybeans. Various management scenarios of the illustrative farm are optimized with the Purdue Crop and Livestock Linear Programming Model (PC-LP).;This analysis reveals that scenarios that include HOC show higher expected profit as a result of better feed conversion of HOC diets, reduced feed costs and of an increased output of slaughter beef cattle. By being carried out on a whole farm setting, this analysis has the merit to offer farmers a better picture about the economics of producing and feeding HOC on their own farms.