ABSTRACT
Cost and returns estimates for both Japanese and U.S. beef breed cow/calf operators, beef breed cattle feedlots, and for dairy breed feeding to slaughter weights are presented in this chapter. There are, of course, considerable differences between operations within a country, but the budgets do serve the major function which is to provide comparative estimates of Japanese and American beef production cost and the reason behind them. The cost estimates for Japan serve as a base from which economic analyses of the potential impact from technological changes are carried out in Chapters 8 and 9. In effect, a second major purpose of this chapter, as well as the background information developed in previous chapters and a discussion of technological changes in the next chapter, is to answer the question: How much can beef production cost be reduced in Japan?
