AN ECONOMIC NUTRITION MODEL OF BEEF-PRODUCTION

Nutrition equations are combined with least cost ration formulation, economic criteria and pasture data, to produce a system for the simulation of beef production. Flexibility is achieved by reducing beef production to two basic periods, namely winter and summer; the management decisions of the winter comprising a subset of those which exist in summer. This allows the simulation of a variety of beef production systems. The unusual dimension of the model is that it attempts to address both commercial and economic decision requirements. Results of simulations which address a practical management problem are summarised, to demonstrate the flexibility and potential of the approach. These highlight possible problems with the specification of the nutrition equations.