Willard C. Losinger
Consultant, Losinger Economic Consulting Services

The article “Economic Impacts Associated with Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST) Use,” which appeared in AgBioForum 3(2&3), merits somewhat closer scrutiny. The article was based on a pair of regression models which Ott and Rendleman (2000) had developed for herd milk production and for herd “nonmilk productivity.” These regression models are quite similar to a series of models that Ott, Wells, and Wagner (1999) and Ott and Novak (2001) had created to examine economic losses associated with Johne’s disease and with bulk-tank somatic cell counts, respectively. For comparison, I present the models of Ott, Wells, and Wagner (1999) and of Ott and Novak (2001) in Table 1. Read More…