A model was developed to determine the optimal slaughter weights of pigs with heterogeneous growth raised in a 1,000 head barn and marketed in truckload groups. Under commonly used revenue schemes, which include discounts for weight and leanness, the optimal strategy was to market one or two...

We examine production economic implications of a specialized input to which a biological system (e.g., an animal) becomes desensitized over time, but its marginal productivity can be restored by increasing the dosage level. Optimal dosage levels and their timing become choice variables and may...