2026-10-14T06:24:55Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33828532 2026-09-16T05:30:05Z category_1280 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Table 1_Adoption intensity of whole-cycle reproductive management practices and economic returns in smallholder beef breeding-cow systems in China.docx Yunhong Jiang (2888831) Jianmin Cao (9923131) Farm Management, Rural Management and Agribusiness adoption intensity beef breeding-cow systems economic returns nonlinear association smallholder farming whole-cycle reproductive management <p>Economic sustainability in beef breeding-cow farming depends not only on animal productivity, but also on how consistently reproductive management is implemented across the production cycle. Yet limited evidence is available on the extent to which smallholder farmers adopt whole-cycle reproductive management practices and how adoption intensity is associated with farm-level returns. Using survey data from 384 beef breeding-cow farmers in Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Shaanxi Provinces, China, this study develops an adoption-intensity index covering four reproductive management stages: pre-breeding, gestation, postpartum management, and remating/culling. A pooled repeated cross-sectional quadratic ordinary least squares model is used to examine the relationship between adoption intensity and net income per breeding cow. The results reveal a conditional nonlinear association between adoption intensity and economic returns, with a more pronounced U-shaped pattern observed among farmers receiving subsidy or credit support. At low levels of adoption, returns remain limited, likely because management practices are implemented only partially and coordination across reproductive stages is insufficient. Beyond the estimated turning point, the positive association between adoption intensity and net income per breeding cow becomes increasingly evident. The nonlinear association remains robust to alternative outcome measures, alternative adoption indices, winsorization, and village-clustered standard error specifications. Further analyses indicate that external support conditions shape the strength of the nonlinear association between adoption intensity of whole-cycle reproductive management practices and economic returns. Overall, the findings suggest that whole-cycle reproductive management should be understood as a management-intensive innovation, for which economic returns are associated with adoption intensity, continuity of implementation, and coordination across reproductive stages rather than isolated practices alone.</p> 2026-09-16T05:30:05Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fanim.2026.1878033.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Table_1_Adoption_intensity_of_whole-cycle_reproductive_management_practices_and_economic_returns_in_smallholder_beef_breeding-cow_systems_in_China_docx/33828532 CC BY 4.0