## Warning: package 'ggplot2' was built under R version 3.2.4

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Summary of feedlot steers

Let’s take a look at how different our 24 steers differed from each other

##       Age              Sire         WW            PW            YW     
##  Min.   :530   EZ 054    :3   Min.   :364   Min.   :425   Min.   :608  
##  1st Qu.:555   EZ 231    :6   1st Qu.:408   1st Qu.:458   1st Qu.:650  
##  Median :562   EZ MIF 214:3   Median :488   Median :523   Median :703  
##  Mean   :562   Nbar PT   :4   Mean   :484   Mean   :531   Mean   :702  
##  3rd Qu.:572   Wave      :8   3rd Qu.:554   3rd Qu.:603   3rd Qu.:738  
##  Max.   :590                  Max.   :626   Max.   :662   Max.   :892  
##       HCW            LW            Gain            YG         F_Value    
##  Min.   :652   Min.   :1040   Min.   :1.81   Min.   :1.2   Min.   :1606  
##  1st Qu.:706   1st Qu.:1126   1st Qu.:2.01   1st Qu.:2.6   1st Qu.:1746  
##  Median :744   Median :1186   Median :2.11   Median :3.1   Median :1854  
##  Mean   :751   Mean   :1197   Mean   :2.13   Mean   :3.0   Mean   :1865  
##  3rd Qu.:796   3rd Qu.:1269   3rd Qu.:2.25   3rd Qu.:3.4   3rd Qu.:1985  
##  Max.   :859   Max.   :1369   Max.   :2.45   Max.   :3.9   Max.   :2205

General histogram of prices

Here’s a look at the prices of our steers

The pink line indicates mean value

Histogram of value by sire

We have the following mean carcass values for each sire:
- EZ 054 = $1927
- EZ 231 = $1891
- EZ MIF = $1942
- Nbar PT = $1851
- Wave = $1800

Summary by sire

##         Sire Age  WW  PW  YW HCW   LW Gain  YG Prime Base_Value
## 1 EZ MIF 214 556 567 595 747 792 1263  2.1 3.3  0.00       1946
## 2     EZ 054 540 515 564 713 788 1257  2.2 3.4  0.00       1937
## 3     EZ 231 560 474 527 716 759 1210  2.2 2.8  0.17       1866
## 4    Nbar PT 578 474 515 648 730 1164  2.1 2.8  0.50       1794
## 5       Wave 566 454 506 698 725 1155  2.1 2.9  0.12       1781
##   Final_Value Value_Change Weight_Change
## 1        1942         -4.0           225
## 2        1927         -9.4           273
## 3        1891         25.8           285
## 4        1851         56.5           256
## 5        1800         18.9           270

Correlations

We want to see what variables really affected final value

##        Value      PW    WW     YW    Gain      YG     Age
## Value  1.000  0.7738  0.73  0.692  0.4988  0.2614 -0.0671
## PW     0.774  1.0000  0.97  0.785 -0.0508  0.3823 -0.0069
## WW     0.729  0.9655  1.00  0.771 -0.1819  0.3465  0.1018
## YW     0.692  0.7847  0.77  1.000  0.1166  0.3425 -0.0540
## Gain   0.499 -0.0508 -0.18  0.117  1.0000  0.0043 -0.3708
## YG     0.261  0.3823  0.35  0.342  0.0043  1.0000 -0.2368
## Age   -0.067 -0.0069  0.10 -0.054 -0.3708 -0.2368  1.0000

We can see that all of the weights seem to be highly correlated with final value and that rate of gain is also associated with higher value. There does not seem to be much association between yield grade and final value. There is no observed association regarding age. We will see these relationships visually in the following graphs…

Weights as predictors for value

Takeaways

Weights at younger ages mattered more than rate of gain once they hit the feedlot
Most of the steers gained around 2 lbs/day, getting gain at the lot was easier than keeping them healthy at a young age
Sires with the highest value calves were those with high weaning weights

Feedlot Report