Estimated optimum interregional competition and location patterns in the southern cattle slaughtering industry in 1975

The present study was a partial equilibrium analysis of interregional competition and location patterns in the Southern cattle slaughtering industry. It was directed toward estimating the spatial patterns that would result from an optimum (minimum cost) adjustment to changing technology and demand levels for beef, assuming changes in area slaughter cattle marketings follow past trends. The technological changes considered here included the Interstate Highway System, and on-the-rail systems in cattle slaughtering plants. Effects from the Interstate System were assumed to be reflected only through reduced interregional transportation costs. Specific objectives of the study were: (1) to estimate the optimum locations and volumes of cattle slaughtering within a set of areas in the South, using estimated 1975 supply, demand, transportation cost and slaughtering cost data; (2) to estimate the accompanying interarea movements of slaughter cattle and dressed beef; and (3) to estimate the impact of seasonal variations in slaughtering rates on objectives (1) and (2). The year, 1975, was assumed to represent approximately average cyclical conditions in slaughter cattle production. Thus, to incorporate average cyclical conditions into the analytical framework, it was selected as the appropriate future time period for analysis.