Beef Cattle Farmers’ Economic Behavior in the Minahasa Tenggara Regency, Indonesia

The purpose of this research is to analyze the influencing factors of household income from beef cattle business in the use of artificial insemination and natural mating and evaluate the impact of changes in various external factors on economic behavior, such as the added value of cattle, income from cattle and production costs, allocation of family labor, the income of food crop farming, family income, food consumption, and non-food consumption as well as farmer household savings in the use of artificial insemination and natural mating systems in beef cattle. Further, the measurement of insemination and natural mating employed the approach of inseminator and natural mating costs. This research was conducted using a case study method on 150 beef cattle farmers located in Tababo Selatan Village and Buku Selatan Village, Belang District and Molompar Village and Molompar I Village, Tombatu Timur District, Minahasa Tenggara Regency. Specifically, the study used a purposive random sampling method. Data were analyzed by simultaneous equations, using the two-stage least squares (2 SLS) method and simulated analysis, using the SAS statistical application program. The results show that artificial insemination and natural mating systems had a significant effect on the added value of cattle, increasing the family time allocation of the farmer to the cattle business, production costs, the value of manure production, the rent value of bulls, and the value of unsold cattle. The simulation model demonstrated that an increase in inseminator costs and natural mating costs by 20% could increase the added value of beef cattle, allocation of family working time in the cattle business, beef cattle income, family income of the farmers, and food and non-food consumption.