The Livestock Option For North Dakota Farmers

From 1967 to 1991, income for North Dakota remained fairly unchanged. At the time of this writing public policy makes and other business leaders wondered if increased livestock would generate both income and jobs in the state. A combination of agricultural export growth, government farm subsidies and periods of strength in crop prices with periods of weakness in livestock prices had contributed to a declining interest in livestock production in North Dakota. The discussion of increased livestock capacity needs to be tempered with the reality of such producing actual gains in income in North Dakota. Also, will this result in increased activity overall in North Dakota communities. Other considerations are if there are better ways to use the state's forage base, adding value to current feed grain crops, better utilisation of farm labour and management plus the improved resilience of farm businesses. Increeased production of livestock would generate income for other related businesses necessary to support such. The cyclical prices of livestock makes the inclusion of a successful business plan to address these. Increased livestock can fully utilize North Dakota's idle resources. Fish, sheep, goat, poultry, wild game and exotic animal production further increase profits. A recommended venture into these markets slowly was made. However, it was noted that a substantial investment needed to be made to make any meaningful income enhancement