Livestock economics encompasses the dynamics and linkages of the complex livestock production industry. This dissertation focuses on three topics that relate to this field and offer insights and recommendations to market participants at differing stages along the production chain. The first chapter analyzes the Rainfall Index Annual Forage pilot program and its ability to provide risk coverage for annual forage producers. Annual forage is used by cattle producers to provide winter grazing in and around Oklahoma. This article utilizes unique data from a long-term study of annual ryegrass production with rainfall recorded at the site to determine whether or not the use of rainfall indices provides adequate coverage for annual forage growers. The second chapter focuses on an issue near the other end of the production chain where beef is sold to consumers. Today, the U.S. produces more beef from fewer cattle due to the ability to get more meat from each animal. While the benefits of this increase in efficiency are well documented, unintended adverse consequences have been less well understood. This article aims to identify and quantify one of these adverse effects. With larger cattle have come larger steaks. Using data from a nationwide survey, this article estimates consumer willingness to pay for beef steak dimensions to draw insights into the consumer welfare changes that have resulted from increasing steak sizes. The third chapter focuses on the behavior of commodity prices, including grains which are important for livestock feed and cattle prices. Changing underlying means are inherent in commodity prices and can create biased estimates if not correctly specified when performing unit root tests. Prominent financial models include terms for both mean reversion and unit roots but assume that mean reversion occurs gradually over time. Other models require the researcher to determine if prices are either mean-reverting or follow a unit root process. We discuss the models commonly used for commodity prices and how their assumptions align with how commodity spot and futures prices actually behave. We argue for using panel unit root tests for futures prices. Each of these chapters has implications for the livestock industry.