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<br />C\1 <br />'" <br />l'- <br /> <br />- 16 - <br /> <br />It should be recognized that beef-cattle fattening requires some different <br /> <br />management skills and also a willingness to take greater risks than required for <br /> <br />operation of a ranch selling feeder cattle. The individual operators on the four <br /> <br />case-study ranches probably have, or could acquire, the necessary skills. This is <br /> <br />probably not true for all ranch operators in the area, however. Some ranches might <br /> <br />prefer to develop in the direction of selling for cash, surplus hay, and grain pro- <br /> <br />duction. Bud~eting for self-contained farm units, which will be explained later, <br /> <br />indicates that marketing of hay and grain as cash crops, or a combined range-cattle <br /> <br />operation and surplus crop disposal for cash, would also be feasible alternatives, <br /> <br />provided the markets could be found for surplus crops. <br /> <br />Case-Study Ranch II.--Ranch II was a ranch marketing yearlings exclusively and having <br /> <br />a carrying capacity for at least 150 breeding cows and heifers coming two years old <br /> <br />and for the calves and yearlings to be marketed at 18 months of age. This ranch also <br /> <br />made rather extensive use of leased rangeland and improved meadow. It did have a <br /> <br />relatively larger proportion of deeded land, however, than found on Ranch I. Ranch <br /> <br />II also had permits to graze on Bureau of Land Management lands. Investment require- <br /> <br />rnents per breeding c~~ were $595 for land and buildings only and $969 total. In- <br /> <br />vestments on a per-animal-unit basis were more nearly comparable to investments on <br /> <br />Ranch I and other ranches. <br /> <br />In the actual 1962 situation, net ranch income for Ranch II was $7,724 and <br /> <br />return to operator's labor was $455. There were few unusual circumstances connected <br /> <br />with the operation of Ranch II in 1962. In the normalized situation, total returns <br /> <br />are reduced, and cash expenses are also reduced slightly. Net ranch income is $4,887. <br /> <br />and return to operator's labor is -$2,373. Crop yields on this ranch could be ex- <br /> <br />pected to improve slightly with the use of supplemental water, and some land could be <br /> <br />converted from irrigated pastures to improved meadows. The beef cow herd can be in- <br /> <br />creased to 205 head of cows and heifers to calve. Cattle must still be sold as <br />