@article{Ryan:232114,
      recid = {232114},
      author = {Ryan, M.M. and Hawkins, M.H.},
      title = {Future Directions for the Alberta Sheep Industry},
      address = {1990},
      number = {1528-2016-131864},
      series = {Project Report},
      pages = {76},
      year = {1990},
      abstract = {The primary focus of this study is to examine the short  term, medium term and long term supply response for lamb,  wool and cull sheep for the Alberta sheep industry.  The  sensitivity of supply to changes in market prices in  estimated using two alternative analytical techniques.  The  first technique used is the repressentative farm linear  programming procedure.  This technique involves the  estimation of medium term supply response fro the three  products from farm level information.  The industry level  supply response is then derived by summation of the  individual farm level supply estimates.  The alternative  procedure relates to the estimation of short-run and  long-run supply response directly from industry level data  using an econometric procedure.  The results from both  procedures indicate that lamb supply is sensitive to  changes in market prices in the medium and long term, but  that the supply of wool and cull sheep are relatively  stable over large price ranges.     Furthermore, the  stability of the sheep industry is examined using a Markov  chain process.  This analytical technique examines the  movement of farms between different size groups over a  thirty-five year period from the early 1950s to the mid  1980s.  The results indicate that there is a trend toward  increased concentration in the industry with medium and  large size sheep producers accounting for an ever  increasing share of the industry.  Small sheep producers  over the same time period however, have shown a dramatic  decline in terms of absolute number and industry share.  A  minor focus of this tudy involves a preliminary analysis of  the demand for fresh and frozen lamb in Alberta.  The  empirical estiamtes of demand indicate that the price may  not be as important a variable in fluencing the demand for  lamb as is the case with other red meats.  This may be  attributed to the special characteristics of the lamb  market.  These characteristics relate to the low volume,  low frequency and seasonality associated with lamb  consumption.  In general, kamb is regarded as a speciality  mean with peak consumption occurring at Easter and  Christmas.  For lamb, demographic and socioeconomic  variables are key variables in terms of influencing  aggregate demand.   The marketing strategies available to  the sheep industry include demand expansion programs,  supply management boards and centralized selling agencies.   A centralized selling agency could have a significant  positive impact on the industry in terms of increasing  operational efficiency and perhaps pricing efficiency.   Finally, a strategically oriented demand expansion program  may be a mroe useful approach to increasing the aggregate  demand for lamb.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/232114},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.232114},
}